March 7th 2024
Left for dead: Spring Budget is another social care burn
As Chancellor Jeremey Hunt has revealed national spending plans, experts are asking one question: Why is nobody helping social care?
At 12.30pm yesterday Jeremy Hunt delivered his Spring Budget, informing us on the countries finances and economic outlook. Devastatingly, it comes as no surprise that measures to help social care were missing from the speech.
While an increase in NHS funding and a new productivity plan is welcome, other announcements including cutting the National Insurance (NI) rate from 10% to 8% will likely leave social care and elderly people in a worse position.
As the speech progressed, an army of social care experts and charities have pioneered together to make their feelings known. Spoiler alert, it’s not all rainbows and sunshine.
‘Social care wasn’t on the agenda in yesterday’s budget and that’s disappointing – when it comes to public spending on health, the focus remains on the NHS and acute care despite the clear challenges faced by the social care sector,’ Max Parmentier, CEO, and co-founder of Birdie, said. ‘However, it’s the narrative on how NHS funding should be spent that should give the social care sector pause for thought.’
Max added: ‘The Chancellor’s narrative here was all about productivity and efficiency, in large part by stopping wasted time on outdated IT systems and paper processes. This is the exact same conversation that we’ve been having in the social care sector for years – the difference is the pace of change.
‘So if the absence of social care in yesterday’s statement tells us anything, it’s that necessity is the mother of invention: long having been left out of the public conversation, this sector has come up with its own solutions and is now showing true innovation and signs of progress.’
On a more positive note, Steve Sawyer, managing director of Access Health, Support and Care, commented on what investments to NHS technologies would mean for the sector: ‘The announcement that the government will be funding improvements to NHS IT systems is most welcome.
‘Digital technology and integration can deliver tangible benefits, including reduced A&E and ambulance waits, faster patient discharge with full oversight of bed availability across wards and sharing of data to support faster, more informed decision making. Doing so can improve health outcomes for patients and cut costs, allowing money to be refocused on patient care.’
Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK, said: ‘The reductions in NI will be welcomed by people in their fifties and early sixties who are in employment but do nothing for anyone working beyond their state pension age because they do not pay NI. They can be forgiven for feeling hard done by as a result, especially since many of them are working in their late sixties and beyond not because they want to, but because they simply cannot afford to retire. Nor will it help retired people with modest pensions that take them over the tax threshold who will face an increase in income tax rise because personal allowances remain frozen.’
‘Age UK had called for the Household Support Fund to be continued beyond April, to help people of all ages struggling on low incomes, and we are pleased the Chancellor announced a six-month extension,’ Caroline said. ‘However, six months is not long enough and, crucially, this leaves older people on low fixed incomes without recourse to this extra help through the winter months, when high energy bills provoke so much hardship and fear.’
In addition, Sam Monaghan, CEO of MHA, claimed: ‘As expected, the Chancellor has failed to address the current crisis facing the social care sector during the Spring Budget.
‘Our ask is that, ahead of the next General Election, all political parties present a credible, sustainable plan that resolves the current gap between government funding and the cost of providing care. After decades of successive governments dodging this question, there are now nearly half a million people waiting just for a social care assessment. This cannot continue.
‘We also need to see a long-term strategy that tackles the estimated 152,000 staff vacancies in the sector and makes social care a stronger career choice for young people. This is why we’ve been calling on government to commit to the creation of a Social Care Council, which would value the sector and act as an independent body examining issues such as pay scales, working hours and recruitment on an ongoing basis.’
Image: JD Mason