Social Care Campaign Comments
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Comments
Mark Jarman-Howe, Chief Executive
“St Helena Hospice welcomes the decision by the Government to make a one-off capital grant to English hospices. However, it is ever rising revenue costs and in particular the increase in employer national insurance contributions that is hitting the sector hard and will continue to do so for years to come. Right now, the country is losing vital hospice capacity with hard working nurses and doctors being made redundant and services being cut. This is a travesty and a long-term, fair and sustainable funding settlement for hospices can’t come soon enough. Until then we fully support the proposal for a change in Bank of England financial regulations providing an opportunity for the Government to inject essential funds into hospices, social care and GP services to offset the counter-productive and punitive increase in employment costs for essential care providers.”
Stephen Trowbridge MBE, First City Care Group
Stands with Box Power CIC – Urgent Action Needed. This is a direct attack on social care—and we will not stay silent.
The government’s refusal to exempt care providers from the National Insurance increase is nothing short of a betrayal. Care homes, homecare services, hospices, and disability support providers are already on the brink, yet they’re being hit with an extra financial burden while banks and other industries remain protected. Where is the fairness in that?
This reckless decision is pushing care providers closer to collapse, putting 1.2 million vulnerable people at risk and piling even more pressure onto the NHS. Bed-blocking will get worse. Services will be cut. Jobs will be lost. And once again, it will be the most vulnerable who pay the price.
Box Power CIC has presented a clear, practical solution—a 1% reserve requirement on banks that could generate £1.3 billion annually to offset these damaging costs. If the government refuses to explore this, they are actively choosing to let the care sector fail.
First City fully supports Box Power CIC in this fight. The care sector cannot keep absorbing the costs of government failure while financial institutions remain untouched. This is a crisis—and it’s time for the government to wake up.
Mike Padgham, Independent Care Group Chairman
“The Government seems to be doing all it can to destroy social care providers with the forthcoming ENIC increase and has missed a vital opportunity in delaying for years then much needed reforms. Investment in social care helps those who need support and also provides a boost to the economy.
“The government has ignored that social care employs 1.6m people and contributes £68.1bn to the England economy – with the right investment it could employ and contribute even more.
“Care providers want to grow, invest, and innovate, care for more people, employ more staff and help drive economic growth and aid the Government’s efforts to kick-start the economy.
“Instead, the sector continues to be left out in the cold and in crisis. Now 2m people cannot get the social care they need and that can mean others having to take time out of work to look after them, which is bad news for economic growth.”
Mark Lloyd, Managing Director
“the RMBI Care Co fully supports this request of Government to reverse their position on NI. As a social care provider with over 1000 beds the inequalities in care between self funders and state funded placements continues to widen with providers subsidising under funding. Adding a NI increase pushes providers over the edge when as a charity involved in providing a service to public funded people we should be exempted. Please as a matter of urgency reverse your decision”.
John Godden, Chief Executive
“Salutem Care and Education currently employs more than 3,000 staff to provide care and education for almost 2,000 individuals with the most complex of needs. Taxing us on employing those people is a significant retrograde step that has forced us to look closely at reducing our provision to balance the massive increase in employee costs. This is obtuse given the Governments stated, and necessary, aim to reduce the pressure on the NHS. This policy is having the direct opposite impact to that need as we will be reducing capacity which will have a detrimental impact on the NHS.”
Keith Milton, Group Chief Executive, St Martins Care
“Residential care providers and hospices are an essential part of the wider healthcare system, supporting the NHS and vulnerable people. It is commonly accepted that social care has been underfunded for many years whilst, at the same time, facing a tide of increasing regulations and expectations around the quality of care provided. Add to this an aging population with increasingly complex care needs and many care providers find themselves close to breaking point. The last thing social care needs right now is further cost increases, especially the Government’s recent announcements on National Living Wage and Employer’s National Insurance without adequate funding. Early indications are the Local Authorities will not have funding to fully compensate care providers meaning that services delivered to the most vulnerable in our society are at risk which surely cannot be acceptable. We urge the Government and Local Authorities to reconsider the situation so that adequate funding is urgently made available. Until that happens, we fully support the proposal for a change in Bank of England financial regulations providing an opportunity for the Government to inject essential funds into social care services to offset the counter-productive and punitive increase in employment costs for essential care providers.”
Sue Livett, Chief Executive, Aldingbourne Trust
“We support people with learning disabilities and autism. “Every single report on social care, from Directors of Adult Services, to the Care Quality Commission is sounding claxons that the support that touches 1 in 3 of us is in crisis. Andrew Dilnot at the Health and Social Care Select Committee on 8th January convened to look at the impact of inaction by our governments summed it up – “it’s blindingly, bleedin’ obvious that something needs to be done”. The bombshell announcement and subsequent refusal to mitigate the impact of changes to Employer National Insurance contributions will have devasting consequences. Social care goes a long way to supporting people to live well. The proposal by Box Power offers a practical, fair way forward and deserves a hearing.”
