VODG responds to HM Treasury's Spending Review 2020

In response to HM Treasury’s Spending Review 2020, the Voluntary Organisations Disability Group (VODG), has issued the following statement:

Dr Rhidian Hughes, chief executive of VODG, said:

“Today’s Spending Review is a missed opportunity to protect social care services for disabled people and their families. This is at a time when local authorities are facing significant financial pressures and social care services, which are in greater demand, and the providers of those services, are being impacted as a result.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has shone a bright light on the vital role social care plays in our society and it is disconcerting that government has not committed to strengthening the system with a more robust funding plan that will ensure people who rely on social care services can continue to access the care and support they need.

“Throughout the pandemic, we have seen how disabled people and their families have been disproportionately affected. Today’s funding announcements, which fall far short of what is needed to sustain adult social care services at such a crucial time, is yet another example of the how the government is overlooking people in most need of social care.

“A full and proper review of the adult social care system, with a robust plan for sustainable and workable long-term reform, is urgently required – not the short-term fixes that the sector has been subjected to by successive governments. Given that the sector has been awaiting a social care green paper since 2017, we can only hope that government is fully committed to progressing the proposals for social care, which Chancellor Rishi Sunak has today said will be brought forward in 2021.”