There is much to be celebrated in last week’s Autumn budget. However, like all not-for-profit organisations delivering statutory services, we are concerned about the impact of the increases to Employer National Insurance Contributions. We estimate that non-profit providers cannot fund these rises without an average 8% increase in payments for local authority contracts.

The need to increase taxes is well understood. Our public services desperately need funding and support to recover from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and improve.

Our services are labour-intensive and therefore, costly to the public purse. In 2022/23, local government spent £6.3 billion on learning disability support for working adults. However, with only an additional £600 million allocated to local authorities for adult and children’s social services, it seems the Treasury has forgotten that these, too, need support to recover and upgrade.  

Last year United Response received an average fee uplift of 5%, far below the increases in National Living Wage and other inflationary cost pressures. We are not alone. Across the sector, already narrow surpluses were squeezed further as non-profit social care providers continue to face significant cost pressures in delivering statutory services. 

With no profits to squeeze, non-profit providers can only turn to reserves. Still, after 15 years of inaction on social care, these have considerably diminished, leaving providers with little cash to access.  

We welcome the significant increase in the national living wage and the promised Fair Pay Agreement for social care workers. Low wages in the sector hinder our ability to recruit and retain staff for this skilled work. Low pay means people at work have a background of worrying about their finances. However, with staff costs making up an average of 75% of providers’ total costs, there are real questions about whether the government’s plans to reward our workforce are achievable given the fees paid for contracts.  

Social Care is often described as the ‘Cinderella service’. Instead, we should be looked at for our vital contribution to society. Charities like us, with a solid ethos of empowering individuals to independence, often deliver tangible economic benefits to local areas such as by supporting people into work and ensuring their parents are free of worry so they too can contribute to the economy. 

Not-for-profit providers are not alone in raising the alarm, but as committed partners to the government and the NHS, we hope that our voice is valued and not lost in the noise.