Your mother might look fab, keep fit and still find time to cook the best roast dinner in town, but it will not always be that way.
Like it or not, your parents will hit their twilight years and eventually it could be you who is expected not only to cook for them, but make plans to get them out of bed in the morning, arrange for the housecleaner to come and even -- God forbid -- address their lavatorial needs.
The 2001 census revealed that 11 percent of the UK population -- 5.2 million people -- care for their family members, friends or neighbors. For 3 million of those, the time that they are not looking after members of the blue rinse brigade is spent working either part of full time.
Little wonder that research released on Monday by Westminster Advisers, on behalf of the top employee benefits providers in the UK, shows 47 percent of companies report an increasing awareness of the need to do more to support employees who care for an older relative. Making the situation more pressing is the UK's ageing population. In 30 years time, more then a quarter will be over 65, while by 2051, the number of people over 85 will have quadrupled.
Employers' concerns are not driven by some altruistic bent, but the realization that if they fail to wake up and smell the cocoa, their businesses will suffer. Research from the Department for Work and Pensions has identified caring responsibilities as a key "push factor," causing people to disengage from the work force, and as a "pull factor," encouraging people to voluntarily leave the work force.
Despite the impetus, however, just 17 percent of employers currently have a policy in place to help their staff balance work and care responsibilities. That is because there are limits to what they can do, according to Stephen Burke, the chief executive of Counsel and Care.
"Enlightened employers offer flexible working opportunities and they signpost employees to organizations like ours that can provide help and advice," he says. "But there's not a great deal more they can do."
This is why leading companies and campaign groups are calling on the government to take the next step. They want lawmakers to introduce a tax break that would enable employers to offer vouchers for employees who care for a dependent relative.
"The voucher would work in the same way as current childcare vouchers do, in that they could be given out as an employee benefit and could be redeemed for a range of provision," Burke says.
Just as childcare vouchers can save couples around ?2,000 (US$3,478) a year on nursery fees, nannies or after-school care, the eldercare vouchers could be spent on befriending schemes, home maintenance, help with daily activities like dressing and cooking, or even residential care.
Having already been in discussions with various governmental departments, Burke is confident that it is just a matter of time before the scheme comes in -- something that Linda O'Toole believes will change her life.
"I have been combining full-time work and caring for my 82-year- old mother for five years," says the 50-year-old site services coordinator for Centrica. "Because she suffers diabetes, has disabilities and dementia, she has moved in with me two years ago and I provide all her support, including getting her up at 6am before going to work.
"My employers are brilliant and have been flexible with work times. But a tax break would make a huge difference. Just having someone to pop in and make sure she eats her lunch would mean I don't keep having to juggle and reschedule."
The government would also stand to gain. Say for argument's sake that there were 150,000 users spending ?50 of vouchers a week, there would be up to ?390 million in additional funding for older people's care and support services a year.
Employers would also benefit as they get to attract and retain talented staff, as well as improve morale, increase productivity and reduce absenteeism, says Caroline Waters, the director of people and policy at the telecoms giant BT.
"If you look at the demographics, as many as three out of every five people in the UK are carers at some stage in their lives," she says.
Paul Backhouse, the head of personnel policy and benefits for the retail chain, the John Lewis Partnership, agrees. "The need to care for older relatives is definitely becoming more of an issue for our staff and we believe it's the tip of the iceberg as life expectancy of the population increases," he says. "Being able to provide these vouchers would help reinforce our aim of being an employer of distinction."
It is not just the big employers who could take up with the voucher system. John Woodward is the group managing director for Busy Bees, an employee benefits provider.
"We are a provider of childcare vouchers and whilst we deal with companies as big as Asda [supermarkets] and police forces, the minimum order is for one person," he says. "The tax break means they can afford to offer it."
The vouchers could also increase independence for older people. "I've got a mother of 84 and I pay for her gardening and cleaning," Woodward says. "It's help with things like that which enable older people to stay at home, where they want to be."
But there are challenges. Elaine Bromberg, the diversity manager at HSBC, says most employees run a mile from being seen as a carer.
"We have found that people don't like the label," she says, "Yes, they sometimes need their employer to be sympathetic to their requirements -- such as, needing time off to take their father to a hospital visit. But they don't see that as being the same as a colleague needing time off for a dental appointment."
HOW THE VOUCHERS WOULD WORK
◆ How would the proposed tax break system help workers with older relatives?
Tax breaks would enable employers to offer vouchers for staff who care for a dependent relative. These vouchers could be redeemed for appropriate care for older relatives.
◆ What could workers spend the vouchers on?
The vouchers offer four main options. First, vouchers could go towards informal support and low-level preventative services such as cleaning and home maintenance, befriending schemes and chiropody.
Second, they could help pay for domiciliary care services whereby professional care workers visit people in their own home to help with daily personal care such as dressing, going to the toilet and some household tasks.
Third, vouchers could buy services like gas detectors or motion sensors and finally, they could go towards residential care, either full time or as respite.
◆ Would all workers with older dependent relatives get the vouchers?
It would be up to individual employers whether to offer it as an employee benefit or not.
The term “assassin’s mace” originates from Chinese folklore, describing a concealed weapon used by a weaker hero to defeat a stronger adversary with an unexpected strike. In more general military parlance, the concept refers to an asymmetric capability that targets a critical vulnerability of an adversary. China has found its modern equivalent of the assassin’s mace with its high-altitude electromagnetic pulse (HEMP) weapons, which are nuclear warheads detonated at a high altitude, emitting intense electromagnetic radiation capable of disabling and destroying electronics. An assassin’s mace weapon possesses two essential characteristics: strategic surprise and the ability to neutralize a core dependency.
Chinese President and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Chairman Xi Jinping (習近平) said in a politburo speech late last month that his party must protect the “bottom line” to prevent systemic threats. The tone of his address was grave, revealing deep anxieties about China’s current state of affairs. Essentially, what he worries most about is systemic threats to China’s normal development as a country. The US-China trade war has turned white hot: China’s export orders have plummeted, Chinese firms and enterprises are shutting up shop, and local debt risks are mounting daily, causing China’s economy to flag externally and hemorrhage internally. China’s
During the “426 rally” organized by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party under the slogan “fight green communism, resist dictatorship,” leaders from the two opposition parties framed it as a battle against an allegedly authoritarian administration led by President William Lai (賴清德). While criticism of the government can be a healthy expression of a vibrant, pluralistic society, and protests are quite common in Taiwan, the discourse of the 426 rally nonetheless betrayed troubling signs of collective amnesia. Specifically, the KMT, which imposed 38 years of martial law in Taiwan from 1949 to 1987, has never fully faced its
When a recall campaign targeting the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators was launched, something rather disturbing happened. According to reports, Hualien County Government officials visited several people to verify their signatures. Local authorities allegedly used routine or harmless reasons as an excuse to enter people’s house for investigation. The KMT launched its own recall campaigns, targeting Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers, and began to collect signatures. It has been found that some of the KMT-headed counties and cities have allegedly been mobilizing municipal machinery. In Keelung, the director of the Department of Civil Affairs used the household registration system
RSS