Helping elderly people to stay within the family
SIR – Tim Stanley (Comment, July 3) rightly suggests that it should be the primary responsibility of every family to care for their elderly.
Therefore, the first responsibility of the welfare state should be to encourage and enable that familyorientated care. By combining funding assistance with sensible adjustments to planning restrictions, many families could be free to provide additional accommodation within their own properties for elderly relatives. David Dilly
Brill, Buckinghamshire
SIR – The ancient Greeks got there before Tim Stanley.
The lawgiver Solon (c. 590BC) ruled that anyone who did not look after his parents (and, it appears, grandparents too) should be deprived of his citizen rights. In the second century AD, the philosopher Hierocles argued that this was a reciprocal duty that children owed to their parents, “so that they should never lack anything. Thus we imitate the care our parents took in rearing us when we were infants”. Dr Peter Jones
Classics for All London NW6 SIR – It mainly falls to women in families to care for their elderly relatives. However, most women today have jobs and juggle family and work commitments as well.
The NHS has already abrogated much of its care of the elderly, with the private sector taking up the slack for people who can afford it. Most families try to do their bit for elderly relatives, but there usually comes a time when the care becomes too onerous. Valerie Smith
Basingstoke, Hampshire
SIR – There is an anomaly in the system for assisting people who require additional care. If one is caring for somebody else – such as a partner – in daily activities, an allowance is paid. However, this only applies to carers who are not in receipt of any other payment, including the old age pension.
One therefore has the odd situation that a person in receipt of the old age pension is expected to provide care without receiving any recompense. This seems to be unfair and not particularly logical. Geoffrey Richards
Trowbridge, Wiltshire