CARING is a very undervalued currency in today’s society.

Shocking reports of carers in homes abusing dementia sufferers and other elderly residents and the exposure of homes offering poor standards of care has helped de-value the coinage.

And then there is that almost invisible army of individuals caring for relatives and friends at home. Their voice is almost unheard – they’re just too busy getting on with the grinding day-to-day routine of caring that there is probably little energy or will left to highlight their plight.

A huge amount of caring underpins life in towns like Bolton. It’s provided by ordinary people who have put their emotions, skills and commitment into looking after others the best way they can.

On the official care front, for example, two local care providers were given glowing reports by the Government’s health watchdog, the Care Quality Commission.

Home service agencies Seva Line Limited, based at Bolton Enterprise Centre in Washington Street, and Your Choice Homecare in Chorley New Road, were both judged to be good in the CQC’s latest reports.

Many people in Bolton can also attest to the positive, ongoing individual care given to their parents, relatives and friends in local care homes, in spite of media coverage of the worst.

However, untouched by watchdog reports or spotlight surveys are ordinary carers at home right across the borough. These are lives put on hold to look after someone else who needs regular care.

Behind closed doors, their routine of caring first and living second happens for years, largely unnoticed by the community. Only organisations like the excellent Bolton Carers Support has been there when it mattered for many, providing help, support and advice from people who genuinely understand the problems involved.

Now, Carers Support is under threat due to Council funding cuts and you really do have to worry about what will happen to the 3,500 carers it regularly helps.

Michelle Clarke, from the organisation, says that “While staff are worried about their jobs, they are much more concerned that carers in Bolton are being short-changed due to a lack of investment in carers’ services.”

Home carers save taxpayers, that’s us, millions each year. They not only need our sympathy but our practical help, and Bolton Carers Support provides this.

Surely, even when we know huge cuts need to be found, exceptions can be made when it comes to caring for society’s most vulnerable?