Disabled people are the missing figures in the Budget
By Nic Murray
The build up to Budget day comes with much speculation about what tax changes may be announced and lots of headline figures and claims. At Leonard Cheshire, we are focusing on a different set of figures today - on what this budget means for social care and the people affected by it.
The figures who matter in social care are the thousands who need to draw on care, the huge workforce that delivers social care, and many more providing unpaid care. To deliver a budget that will truly improve lives of all these people, we were looking for three key things:
1. Interim funding for fair pay
Across the country, over 1.6 million people are employed in the social care sector. This makes social care a larger employer than the NHS. For too long, government investment in the sector has been put on the back burner. This has left social care with stubbornly low pay, impacting on providers' abilities to recruit and retain skilled staff, risking poorer outcomes for those who draw on care.
It has previously been announced that £500m will be invested by 2028 to boost care workforce pay in time for the first Fair Pay Agreement. This is a welcome first-step but waiting until 2028 for further investment may be too little too late. The Government’s own analysis is clear: investing in fair pay delivers returns worth additional billions. Interim funding could have helped realise some of these returns and put the sector on its way to a long-term solution on pay. But we didn’t see this today - a missed chance to back a sector that fuels economic growth. And despite a Budget built on the language of ‘fairness’, care workers remain funded far below their NHS counterparts.
2. Emergency social care funding for local authorities
Year-on-year, local authorities are left to deliver real-terms cuts to social care contracts thanks to insufficient funding. This only looks set to continue. A recent survey from ADASS found local authorities expect to try and find savings of £869m for adult social care budgets in the coming financial year.
“We need money and support injected into social care. We are on the backburner.” Emma.
This contributes to a ‘race to the bottom’ in social care commissioning. This can drive providers to opt not to retender for contracts, to hand back contracts or even to end care provision in certain areas. Particularly as many struggle to fund increases in labour costs, such as the forthcoming 4.1% rise in the National Living Wage from April. Care England projects this may lead to well over £1bn additional cost pressures across the social care sector.
Without emergency funding for local authorities to commission social care, disabled people, older people, and those who support them, are left to bear the cost. The race to the bottom leads to poorer quality care, reduced independence, and in many worrying cases, can put people’s safety at risk.
3. Investment in social care to help close the disability employment gap
Unemployment among disabled people is now at its highest rate since before the pandemic. We have welcomed the £1bn in employment support announced to date. But one thing is consistently being overlooked - the role of social care as an enabler to employment.
We previously found that among disabled people who don’t receive the social care support they need, 80% reported feeling unable to apply for a job. Too often, disabled people are left with care that is not personalised are does not enable them to meet their aspirations.
I could probably go to work if I had a few more hours [of care and support]”
These unmet care needs can have a direct impact on the employment and career trajectories of disabled people. But it doesn't have to be this way, as investing in social care has the potential to boost employment and pay for itself. The provision of high-quality care and support can deliver benefits to disabled people and the wider economy.
This week, the Care and Support Alliance (CSA) delivered a red box to the Chancellor’s 11 Downing Street residence. The box, unlike the Chancellor’s iconic version, was filled with stories of dozens of people who have drawn on care and support, to remind her of the real people impacted by the Budget. We were pleased to include the stories of Leonard Cheshire campaigners in this red box that really mattered.
With social care frustratingly not a priority today’s budget, we must now look to the upcoming Local Government Settlement to prioritise funding for social care.
Investing in social care is investing in people. The thousands who need to draw on care, the extensive social care workforce, and millions providing unpaid care. These are the real figures that matter in social care.