Budget 2024: Where was Social Care?
So this much anticipated budget has finally come and gone. There were no major surprises – most of it had been leaked over the last few weeks anyway, probably the new governments way of testing the water and not doing a Liz Truss – but there are major concerns.
Firstly, where was social care? Some impressive headline figures to support the NHS (unsurprisingly) but the only mention we could see of social care was an extra £1.3bn for local authorities, including £600m for social care.
To put that into perspective, that’s a similar amount to some of the Covid grants the sector received, which let's face it, although useful, didn’t scratch the surface of what was needed.
Far more worrying are the increases in Employers National Insurance Contributions and the above inflation rise in the Minimum Wage. We know many of our members are stretched financially and no one has budgeted for this. What has probably also been overlooked in all this, is the inevitable increases in costs in the supply chain as companies try to recoup some of these costs by passing them onto the consumer, further adding to the cost pressures. We’re very concerned that this might be too much for many to absorb.
So, what next? Thankfully the increases don’t come in until 1 April next year which gives us time to start having conversations with our commissioning bodies, but unless they also receive an increase in their funding settlement (nothing on that yet) I feel troubled times are ahead.
Keiron Broadbent
Chief Executive Officer
West Midlands Care Association
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