Emma Wakefield The Politics Show South East

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Carers are missing out on millions

The definition of a Carer is someone who accepts responsibility of providing long term care and support for a friend, relative or neighbour who is frail, disabled and/or has a long term illness.

The Carer gains no financial reward for this work and may be any age.

In East Sussex there are approximately 50,990 such carers making up over 10% of the population.

Of these around 17,000 are themselves over 60.

For these people day care and respite care is not a luxury it is essential to their health and may well be the only break they get from 24 hour care.

Why then is the Carers Grant no longer ring fenced to pay for this?

Councils may now choose to allocate this money to all adult social care which is exactly what East Sussex County Council has chosen to do.

One result is the closure of three day centres in the County.

We hear from Carers and the organisations that support them to find out exactly what effect the cutbacks will have.

The latest Government White Paper on Health calls for more care in the community but how can this be achieved if councils are no longer required to provide it?

What do you think? Are you a Carer relying on services that may vanish?

Email or Text your opinion to 07786 209252.

Rant of the week

Bill Knoweldon, a third year chemistry student at Sussex University rants against the decision to scrap chemistry degrees and drop half the staff from a department that has produced two Nobel Laureates.

Bill thinks that this is yet another sign that Universities are "dumbing down" in the name of commercialisation.

Are Universities dumbing down? Should we care that courses change?

Text your opinion to 07786 209252.

Paper review

We take a look at the political news around the region with Rebecca Smith, the Editor of The Isle of Thanet Gazette.

Join in

Do you have a strong opinion about something? Education, fox hunting, or chewing gum on the streets?

If there is an idea or a point of view that you are dying to share then here's your chance.

Rant of the Week gives you 60 seconds to share your opinions with our viewers. Or do you have an idea for a story or issue that we should be covering?

How to take part in the programme

Paul Siegert

To rant or to suggest stories that we should cover you can send us an email on the link below with your contact details and the subject that you would like to talk about and one of our producers will be in touch.

To get your views on the programme:

• Text us on 07786 209252
• Email us via the link below

The Politics Show South East

Join Paul Siegert on the Politics Show on Sunday 26 March 2006 at 12.30pm on BBC One.

Disclaimer: The BBC may edit your comments and cannot guarantee that all emails will be published.