Government abandons social care sector – VODG responds to the Chancellor’s budget

Dr Rhidian Hughes, chief executive of the Voluntary Organisations Disability Group (VODG), has made this statement following the Chancellor's Budget.

“Today’s Budget has once again placed social care in an extremely precarious position for the UK’s 13.3 million people living with a disability. The Chancellor has missed the opportunity to put right years of sustained political failure to address the funding of social care for older and disabled people.

There is no question that £6bn for the NHS during this parliament is welcome but the perfect storm being whipped up by the Coronavirus and the continued shortage of care worker staffing may well put the sort of pressures on the social care sector that our generation has never seen before. Without investment directly into social care the resources for the NHS will be undermined.

Social care investment and reform for disabled and older people has been, and continues to be, overlooked by successive governments. It is a story of sustained political failure. There is simply no other area of policy which has had so many formal reviews without leading to legislative change.

Having exited the EU, reform of social care can longer be delayed. Britain needs political leaders who are prepared to invest in the system so that it is resourced to be both responsive and preventative.

The UK’s care and support sector desperately needs a long-term sustainable funding plan with appropriate funding. Until this happens, I’m afraid the Conservative Party is not 'getting it done' for this section of society.”