Undoubtedly true but which came first? Chicken or egg? Are more people caring in deprived areas because they have no other choice or prospects? or because deprivation itself leads to illness and disability? The highest levels of caring in the UK are in the former industrial areas, such as the mining areas of South Yorkshire and South Wales. This is where we see high levels of disability caused by those industries. When the last generation of industrial workers dies off, will that geography change?

Caring is about disability. The impact of disability on your family can differ greatly depending on your economic status and social class. Those with means can often handle the additonal costs it brings. Their expectations of what is an appropriate level of care may also be different, people may be less willing to give up their paid work to care. The response from support services may also be different. Social workers may be less likely to tell a teacher she must give up work to look after her elderly mum, than they would to tell someone working on a checkout.

But it isn’t always the case that your socio-economic status shields you from the worst effects of caring. I have met people who lived highly paid, middle-class professional lifestyles with the disposable income that comes with it. Caring (and the costs of disability) has taken their savings, investments and in some cases their homes and left them with nothing , living on benefits and in poverty.

Those are extreme examples but they highlight a stark truth. Choosing to provide care is something that can radically alter your economic status. The decisions we take at these stressful times in our lives should be informed decisions. Knowing your rights and accessing information is crucial which is why Carers Rights Day is an important campaign.

So whilst there is a moral element, there is also a very explicit political element to care and caring. For me, this raises a question of whether the political context is actively legitimised by the deployment of the moral discourse. I don’t think it was always the case that care was seen as a ‘gift of love’. I think this is borne of the realisation of the cost of a ‘cradle to grave’ welfare state, associated with the fiscal crisis of the welfare state in the late 1970s. I look forward to reading Lyon’s paper.