The combined impact of the Autumn Budget changes to National Insurance and the minimum wage will have a devastating effect on homecare providers. We've taken action by writing a hard-hitting letter to the Health and Social Care Secretary, Rt Hon Wes Streeting MP, outlining the critical issues facing the sector:
- Employment costs are set to rise by 9.9% in 2024/25, before accounting for inflation in other costs.
- To simply maintain current service levels, homecare providers require a 10-11% increase in fee rates.
- We need an additional £1.9 billion per year just for homecare to cover these new costs and historic funding deficits.
In our letter, we've called for immediate government intervention, including:
- Exempting homecare from the NI contribution changes.
- Providing a £1.9 billion cash injection to cover increased employment costs.
- Securing a multi-year funding settlement to meet future social care demand.
- Implementing a National Care Contract with minimum homecare pricing.
We encourage all homecare providers to use the text of our letter to write to your local Members of Parliament. Make your voice heard on this critical issue that threatens the very sustainability of our sector.
You can download a template letter to send to your MP here. Just fill in your local MP's details and personalise as needed.
Read the response to the Budget from our Chief Executive, Dr Jane Townson OBE, here.
