The budget is alarming for not-for-profit social care providers because it will put us under pressure to meet the increases in tax costs across our workforce. Our initial analysis indicates that the changes to national insurance will cost us £5m next year. In addition to this, the increase in the national living wage will increase our wage bill by £10.2m and give us less scope to maintain differentials between entry-level and more experienced colleagues, which is vital to retain them.
The NHS has received a huge amount of funding – £21bn over two years – compared to a mere £600m split between children’s and adult social care. This won’t be enough to cover the increased costs we’ll face, and we will be reliant on uplifts from local government commissioners to pay for these increases. From what we can see, the budget does not provide the extra funding local authorities will need to support this.
