We welcome your letters and e-mails, whether in response to items in Public Agenda or as a way of sharing your own insights and experiences with other readers. We are particularly keen to learn of examples of good practice from which others may benefit. Letters and e-mails may be edited. Please contact us at: agenda@thetimes.co.uk, or write to Public Agenda, The Times, 1 Pennington Street, London E98 1TT
Property tax will weigh on the aged
WE BELIEVE that the council-tax system needs to change, but not in the way that the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) has proposed (Taxing plan for home owners, Feb 7).
Council tax is a real concern for many older people. A 1 per cent tax on the property value every year would leave many pensioners on low fixed incomes worse off. They already pay an average 8 per cent of their incomes on council tax compared with 3 per cent for working age households.
NIESR claims that the tax would encourage older people to move out of large homes they do not need. This is a disgraceful suggestion; many older people are closely connected to their homes and should not be forced to leave properties they have saved all their lives to buy.
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Help the Aged is lobbying government to introduce a fairer system of council tax based on ability to pay, not just the value of the property. As things stand, many poorer pensioners have to economise on essentials to pay their bills. This situation must be addressed.
Anna Pearson, policy officer, Help the Aged
THE director of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research refers to replacing council tax (£19.9 billion) with a 1 per cent property tax (£30.5 billion) allowing a cut in stamp duty; this in turn encouraging trading in houses as being part of the point.
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What’s wrong with bringing back the poll tax, where every adult using public services pays their fair share?
J Bennett, Surrey
Psychosis in perspective
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IF THE Paved with Fear simulator gives people a genuine insight into the reality of psychotic experiences, this is positive (Schizophrenia takes the bus, Feb 7). To appreciate what a person may be going through and to make more sense of how they react, the public and clinicians alike need to understand how big a part fear can play in mental distress and psychotic experiences. However, the simulator cannot be a substitute for learning directly from individuals with experience of psychosis, nor can it replicate the social discrimination people with mental health problems experience. Mind also hopes that its use does not link psychosis solely with drug treatment.
Alison Cobb, policy officer, Mind
Enthused by the White Paper
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SOCIAL workers deal with vulnerable people in situations of ambiguity, uncertainty and risk. We welcome the importance the White Paper attaches to the role of the social care workforce (Public Opinion, Feb 7). Social workers, collaborating with colleagues in health, have a critical part to play in helping people to access personalised services.
Social workers and care workers make a vital contribution to the health and wellbeing of communities and will welcome the emphasis on community-based prevention outlined in the White Paper.
We look forward to working with the Government to deliver the Paper’s ambitions.
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Rodney Brooke, chair, General Social Care Council
Computers hold the key
THE OECD report that “students using computers regularly do better in key school subjects” confirms our experience (Game pupils benefit from technology, Jan 31).
For the past four years the DfES has accepted the critical importance of computer use by funding specialist IT equipment for students who find it difficult to use a standard computer. AbilityNet has supported more than 1,000 pupils under this scheme and seen huge improvements in academic achievement. Despite this success, funding is to end. Without it a significant number of pupils will again be disadvantaged in an area central to their life opportunities.
We urge the DfES to reconsider, and in the meantime ask governors, head teachers and LEAs to prioritise spending in this area. Without it those most in need of additional help will be going without, with a knock-on impact which could last a lifetime.
The moral and economic arguments speak for themselves and this backward step is enormously disturbing.
John Liddle, head of education, AbilityNet