Charity calls for urgent action to stave off social care funding crisis
Hft, a national charity that supports adults with learning disabilities, is calling on the Chancellor of the Exchequer to use his Autumn Budget to outline government plans for the future funding of social care, ahead of the planned publication of the government’s long-awaited green paper on social care.
Since February 2016, Hft has run the It Doesn’t Add Up campaign, which aims to raise awareness of the growing financial pressures facing the learning disability sector. This included the publication of the annual Sector Pulse Check. The report focuses primarily on learning disability providers and provides an annual snapshot for policy makers and stakeholders of the perceived financial health of the sector over the past year, with the intention of influencing long-lasting change.
Robert Longley-Cook, Chief Executive of Hft, commented: “Urgent action is needed to stave off the social care funding crisis. With our own independent research showing that the number of providers in the sector running at a deficit has more than trebled from 11% to 34% over the past year, the Autumn Budget really is crunch time for the learning disability sector.
“It is vital that the Chancellor uses this opportunity to help move on the conversation of how the financial pressures crippling a social care sector will be resolved by delivering a sustainable funding solution for the sector.
"We also know that the challenges facing the social care sector are about more than just funding. 89% of providers told us that they do not believe that the current model of social care delivers the best outcomes for people with learning disabilities. With the green paper due imminently, we hope that the Chancellor will outline the government’s funding plans in his Autumn Statement, allowing the debate around the green paper to focus more on how we deliver best outcomes for those vulnerable adults supported by the sector.”
