British Too Tired To Care?

A recent report by the Henley Centre says that British society has produced 'a generation of self-centred adults who feel no obligation to care for their elderly parents, neighbours or other vulnerable members of the community'.

The report, commissioned by The Salvation Army and featured recently in The Telegraph, says that long working hours mean people are less inclined to devote attention to 'worthy' activities such as their extended family. Working mothers are mentioned specifically as missing out on parents and neighbours due to the effort of combining work and looking after their children.

According to the report, entitled 'The Responsibility Gap - Individualism, Community and Responsibility in Britain', 'will inevitably lead to high numbers of elderly people having to care for themselves at home'.

More than one in five adults did not want to care for their relatives when they got old, and nearly one in two agreed with the statement: 'I am so tired in the evening, I often don't have the energy to do much'.

According to the report the 1980s and '90s saw society wealthier than ever but more polarised and in a constant state of flux with people travelling, moving house and going further to work and shop than in previous periods. Nearly half the British population moved house in the 1990s.

Among other recommendations the report says that the benefits of volunteer work need to be better conveyed, and supported with tax incentives just as the 'Give As You Earn' initiative has changed how people give to charity. It suggests an 'Earn as You Give' scheme offering tax rebates to 'individuals who have undertaken a specific number of days of voluntary or community work in the previous month'.

The report praises an initiative by the French Government, which cancelled one of the country's bank holidays and used the resulting revenue to improve care for the elderly.

Alex Hughes, who leads the Salvation Army in Britain, summarised the change in society by saying that 'those in greatest need in 21st century Britain are often the time-consuming, unfashionable and unrewarding'.

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas unless otherwise stated.

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