I read with interest the letter by Sara E. Woof regarding the invaluable contribution made by carers in the United Kingdom (Letters, June 11, ‘Support for carers in vital’).

The simple fact is that with costs between £700 and £1,200 per week for a care home stay, a carer saves the taxpayer a huge amount of money annually.

With the most disabled people receiving approximately £250 per week and a carer receiving just over £60 per week, the savings to the taxpayer are obvious.

Yet carers get little recognition for the job, and it is a job that they do and I think most would agree that the recompense is scant.

Many carers suffer ill health, stress, depression and worse as their lives cease to be ‘stand alone’ and progressively merge with their loved ones to the point where they almost cease to be an individual at all and their entire existence revolves around the person they care for.

Having just had the budget announcement I feel an opportunity to do something for carers has been missed and, worse than that, the freeze on working age benefits effectively means that more and more money is being robbed from disabled and vulnerable people to give to the better off.

The general consensus of public opinion seems to be in favour of more and more cuts to the Welfare State, but I would defy anyone to live ‘the life of Riley’ on those sums of money.

With food banks now a fixture in everyday life, and now clothes banks being founded in many places, I wonder how long it will be before almshouses make a comeback.

And still those responsible for the financial crisis go unpunished for blatant misdeeds while those who have transgressed the benefit rules are prosecuted with relish.

I would like to draw attention to the fact that should an accident, illness (stroke, heart attack or similar), to yourself or a loved one, mean that you are unable to work for any length of time, then irrespective of whether you have been a hard worker and done the right thing or not as Mr Osborne likes to say, with the dismantling of the Welfare State that is undoubtedly happening now you are very likely to be plunged into poverty and lose the house you may have worked so hard for.

This Budget, this One Nation Conservative Budget, is only of use to those that have resources, those that are fit and well enough to work, or pensioners who have repeatedly been left out of the ‘we’re all in it together’ jigsaw. But then I guess they mostly vote C .

I feel most sorry for the younger members of society that have for the last few years been repeatedly robbed of their financial lifelines - they are after all the future of the country.

Robert Boak

Allithwaite