Govt must axe National Insurance rise for care providers, ICG says

THE Government must act quickly to axe the National Insurance increase for social care providers or risk a serious increase in the number of people going without the support they need, the Independent Care Group has warned.

The ICG said the Government must either make social care providers exempt from the increase or ring-fence funding to pay for it.

In Wednesday’s Autumn Statement, the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, increased employer’s National Insurance by 1.2% and lowered the threshold at which employers have to pay the tax on a worker’s earnings, from £9,100 to £5,000. The ICG says that increase, allied to steep rises in wages, could have a devastating impact on social care providers, forcing some to leave the sector. That would increase the number of people going without care, which topped 2m for the first time last month.

ICG Chair Mike Padgham said: “The lack of understanding of the impact these cost increases will have on social care providers beggars belief and reveals a total lack of understanding over how social care works.

“The bulk of social care delivery, through homecare and residential and nursing care, is delivered by small to medium-sized businesses that are employee heavy.

“Huge increases in the costs those providers face – through the employer’s National Insurance rise and increases in the National Living and National Minimum wages, without an injection of funding to help them cope, is potentially disastrous.”

He said the Government either had to make social care providers exempt from the National Insurance increase or ring-fence funding with local authorities, that commission the bulk of care, to pay for the rise.

“The Government has to do something and it has to do it quickly, as I am already hearing from providers that this might be the last straw for some of them,” Mr Padgham added.

“They have gone through 30 years of financial cutbacks and seen funding for social care fall whilst demand for more and more complex care services increases. They cannot take any more.”

In the Autumn Statement the Chancellor increased employer’s National Insurance and also confirmed that the National Living Wage will go up to £12.21 an hour and the National Minimum Wage, for those aged 18 to 20, up to £10 an hour next spring.

Mr Padgham added: “There is clearly a lack of understanding, at the very highest level of government, about how social care works.

“Most care is provided by independent providers – in the main businesses -who are commissioned to deliver care packages for people by local authorities or Integrated Care Boards.

“Those commissioners have not been able to pay a realistic price for care for many years and that has pushed social care deeper and deeper into crisis, to the point where 2m people can’t get the care they need and there are 131,000 vacancies in the sector.

“If you pile more and more financial pressure on those providers – like National Insurance rises and increases in the minimum wage – without enabling commissioners to pay more for care, the result is inevitable; more providers leaving the sector and a further loss of care provision.

“That will increase the 2m who can’t get care and also scupper the Government’s plans to reform the NHS. It relies upon adequate provision of social care to meet its promises to move care from hospital to community and from sickness to prevention.

“We all want to pay our staff better but raising the minimum wage will put more and more pressure on to care providers, unless we get better funding into social care.”

Social care hit by budget double whammy, says ICG

MEASURES announced in today’s Autumn Statement will make it harder to provide care to older, vulnerable and disabled adults, the Independent Care Group warned.

The ICG said the sector had been left out in the cold as the Chancellor gave with one hand but took away with the other.

The ICG welcomed an extra £600m for social care and an increase in Carers Allowance announced by the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves.

But it was dismayed after an increase in employer’s National Insurance contributions and a rise in the National Living Wage heaped pressure on care providers.

Those measures may well result in more providers quitting the sector at a time when 2m people can’t get the care they need and social care cannot help the NHS to lower waiting lists.

The ICG had sent an open letter to Rachel Reeves urging her to support rather than harm social care.

But ICG Chair Mike Padgham said: “That plea fell on deaf ears and there was very little cheer for social care in today’s Autumn Statement as it was once again left out in the cold.

“The £600m on social care is welcome but by the time it is distributed to 152 local authorities and shared with children’s services it will have little or no impact.

“Any extra funding that might reach providers will be wiped off instantly by the increases in National Insurance and minimum pay which will together heap further pressure on social care providers.

“For some they may well be the final straw, all at a time when we should be growing social care provision to meet the needs of 2m people who currently can’t get the care they need.”

In the Autumn Statement the Chancellor increased employer’s National Insurance by 1.2% and lowered the threshold at which employers have to pay the tax on a worker’s earnings, from £9,100 to £5,000. She also confirmed that the National Living Wage will go up to £12.21 an hour and the National Minimum Wage for those aged 18 to 20 up to £10 an hour next spring.

Mr Padgham added: “As a labour-intensive sector, the last thing social care needed today was an increase in employee costs and, through the rise in National Insurance and the lowering of the NI threshold, that is what we got.

“For a lot of providers this will place existential pressure on them and could well push some out of business, unless it is matched by extra funding to those who commission care and there was little sign of that.

“We all want to pay our staff better – we are going through a recruitment crisis, so need to make the sector competitive. But, again, raising the minimum wage will put more and more financial worry on to care providers, unless we get better funding into social care.

“Those who commission care, like local authorities and Integrated Care Boards, have not paid providers the true price of delivering care for many years, which has brought social care to the sorry position it is today. The extra £600m announced today will not address that and the Government has missed an opportunity to be bold and properly invest in social care.”

He also warned that the extra £22bn for the NHS would not ease hospital waiting lists unless it was matched by more support for social care.

“We want to see better funding for the NHS so that we can reduce waiting lists and get the treatment we need, when we need it. And the Government wants to see a movement from hospitals to community and from sickness to prevention, Mr Padgham added. “But to do those things we have to have adequate social care available in the community so that people can be discharged from hospital when they are ready and beds freed up.“With only lip service paid to social care today, that increase in provision is not going to happen and people well enough to be discharged from hospital will be staying right where they are. I would argue that a healthy NHS depends upon healthy social care. The message isn’t getting through, we need to switch resources from the NHS to social care to start making the equation work.”

In his letter to the Chancellor, Mr Padgham said the Government needed to increase rather than decrease the funding it gives to commissioners like local authorities to buy care from providers. And he warned that an increase in National Insurance would hit social care providers and be at odds with the Government’s desire to see more people looked after in their own home. He also argued that the Government must support social care if it is to succeed in its proposals to reform and improve the NHS.

'Enough is enough', ICG responds after damning CQC report on adult social care

THE Government must act on a growing shortage of care for older, vulnerable and disabled adults after a report warned of a ‘precarious’ situation in social care, the Independent Care Group warned today.

The ICG says the Government must address a shortage of funding in the sector which has robbed providers of the staff they need to provide care.

And it said urgent measures were needed to prevent a serious increase on the 2m people who currently can’t get care.

The ICG says social care has gone beyond the point of no return.

The warning comes after the sector’s inspection body, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) released a damning report on care in this country.

It spoke of a “precarious” situation in adult social care with the number of people not getting care jumping by a quarter over the past five years.

And its State of Care report revealed that half of those well enough to be discharged from hospital could not leave because there were no care home beds or homecare packages available.

It warns that the staff vacancy rate is three times the national average and that care workers “despite the crucial job they do, remain among the lowest paid members of society”.

ICG Chair Mike Padgham said: “We are past the point of no return for social care. Unless we get action on funding soon, the system will grind to a halt, that figure of 2m people who can’t get care will rocket and the number stuck in hospital beds through a lack of social care will go through the roof.”

The ICG has sent an open letter to the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves urging her to support social care when she presents her Autumn Statement next week.

In the letter to the Chancellor, Mr Padgham said the Government needs to increase the funding it gives to commissioners like local authorities to buy care from providers. That would inject more money into the social care sector and enable providers to recruit, tackling the current 131,000 shortfall in staff.

Mr Padgham warned the Chancellor that an increase in National Insurance would hit social care providers and be at odds with the Government’s desire to see more people looked after in the community. He also argues that the Government must support social care if it is to succeed in its proposals to reform and improve the NHS, as it is impossible to reform one without supporting the other.