THE BIG SOCIETY--WITH NECTAR POINTS

So, I have to admit that although the idea of the Big Society is something which I, something which most people would agree was a good thing, I wondered how on Earth people would have the time to actually do anything much about it.

Where would the average “hard-working British Family” member manage to fit in some volunteering, what with presenteeism and flexibility to work late or take work home, kids activities, housework, shopping, gardening, the few hours at the second job to pay for the holiday, friends, family duties, DIY, children’s homework, school runs, sports and hobbies, evening classes to improve job prospects... and time for each other...

Life has always been busy, but today with two parents working, it is difficult to find so much time for volunteering... (and yet people do, particularly retired people, but happily many young people). In David Cameron’s youth it may have been different. Certainly within his class, at that time, it would have been unusual for the mother to work after marriage. Mrs Cameron, for example, was a Justice of the Peace, and sat on the bench. It’s likely that other cabinet members’ mothers may have done the same sort of thing: meals on wheels, WRVSS, charity shop work, sick visiting, prison visiting, etc.....

Now one of the flagship councils for Cameron’s big idea, the Big Society, where volunteers provide the services that the government used to, has come up with an idea to encourage people to take part. Financial recompense. Not in the form of actual cash which would obviously defeat the whole purpose, but in the form of tokens which can be redeemed at local supermarkets and restaurants which will presumably agree to foot some of the expense for free advertising. Windsor and Maidenhead authority is currently working out the details, but hopes to join forces with an loyalty card organisation like Nectar.

Additionally the government recently floated the idea that tokens should be paid for good works with elderly people, and they could be redeemed for care when the volunteer reached old age him/herself. The rather sinister inference being that, unless you do volunteer to help now, you needn’t expect any more than the barest essentials of care when you get old!

The “rewards” aspect of the Big Society was never mentioned in the early days, prior to or just after, the election.
It is, without doubt, going to be an uphill task to get this moving now , much more so than it would have been in the 1950s and 60s. Along with the undoubted truth that we live in a very much faster world, it seems that the money, money, money culture of the Thatcher era is going to be very hard to shift.

Interesting post here on the BS.