97 year old Emanuel Litvinoff told to sign on for jobseekers allowance - man who chronicled depression, loses care package

Published: 14 April 2011
by DAN CARRIER

THE memories of the effects the Depression of the 1930s had on his generation are still fresh. 

In his book Journey Through A Small Planet, now a Penguin Modern Classic, author Emanuel Litvinoff  chronicled how the last great banking crash put millions on the breadline and left him homeless.

Mr Litvinoff, now approaching his 98th birthday, lives in Bloomsbury with his wife Mary McClory, has seen his care packages and benefits cut to nothing – and fears that the economic crisis that hit his generation is washing over us again today.

He has been told by social security staff that if he is struggling to make ends meet, he should sign on and apply for Job Seekers Allow­ance – no doubt an error on the part of the clerk dealing with his case, but still an extraordinary thing for a frail person of his age to hear.

Mr Litvinoff said: “I have been told by Camden Council that the help I received each day is no longer available. My carer can’t come anymore. They have simply said: ‘You are on your own’.”

Mr Litvinoff, whose parents fled pogroms in Russia to find a refuge in the East End, was born in 1913. His early life was tough, as he recalls in his 1972 book, where he describes queuing at the Salvation Army for gruel after going  without food, being given a pair of old boots by the Board of Guardians, and sleeping rough in Whitechapel and Soho. His poverty was only alleviated when war broke out.

“It was tough,” said Mr Litvinoff. “I was often so hungry that I would hallucinate. We fought every day for our lives.”

Ms McClory said the couple now find themselves desperate for help.

“There is an assumption that writers are wealthy, but this is just not the case,” said the former teacher, who spent her career in Camden primary schools but is now Mr Litvinoff’s full-time carer. 

“I loved my job, but I had to leave it four years ago to care for Emanuel. 

“We do not claim benefits. We’ve been told we may be able to get some of the non-means-tested help, but there are so many we can’t claim because we are not on Job Seekers Allowance. We were told to sign on, as if we were unemployed – clearly, that is ridiculous for a man approaching his 98th birthday. And as for me, looking after my husband is now my job.”

Ms McClory was given help by social care charity Crossroads, paid for by Camden Council. That has now been cut. If they wanted to keep the service, they were told it would cost  £150 a week.

Ms McClory said: “The help was recommended by his doctors at UCH. A young man helped prepare food, make sure he was taking his medication, and keep him company.”

It is clear from Mr Litvinoff’s reaction when Ms McClory brings up his carer from Crossroads that he mis­ses him.

“He was lovely,” says Mr Litvinoff.

The carer would take him to the Brunswick Centre, or push his wheelchair through the gardens of Coram’s Fields. It helped Mr Litvinoff feel less iso­lated, and gave his wife the time to complete ­daily chores.

“We hit it off,” says Mr Litvinoff. “He even learned some Yiddish. He was absolutely ­magic. He was a lifeline and losing him seems a remarkably cruel cut to bear.”

Camden Council social care chief Labour councillor Pat Callaghan has said she will look into the couple’s case.

“I worry greatly about cuts to care packages and preventative ser­vices – luncheon clubs and day centres, for example,” said Cllr Callaghan. 

“They play an important role in helping older people – stopping isolation, depression, malnutrition. 

“Mary says the small cost of his care package has been earned. Emanuel served in the frontline during the war, and both he and Mary have worked throughout their lives. This is not the way to treat people who have helped build this society.”

For Mr Litvinoff, today has similarities to the hard times he survived in his youth.

“It seems the same as 1931 all over again,” he said as he sat in his chair by a window, surrounded by bookshelves. 

“This is a depression caused by financiers and bankers, but it’s the ­poorest who are paying for it.”