An Open Letter to the Prime Minister, Partner with the VCFSE Sector to Build a Healthier, Fairer and More Prosperous Britain
Dear Prime Minister
We write to you as Voluntary, Community, Faith and Social Enterprise (VCFSE) organisations providing care, support, housing and advocacy for millions of disabled people, families and unpaid carers across the country. We very much welcome your early focus on social care and the need to act swiftly to put the sector on a surer, sustainable footing.
Every day, our organisations provide essential services that enable disabled children, young people, adults and older people to live independent, healthy and fulfilling lives. We deliver social care, health and wellbeing services, supported housing, mental health support, employment services, advocacy, early intervention, community activities and specialist advice. We help people navigate complex systems, prevent crises and ensure that individuals and families receive the support they need when they need it.
Our organisations are deeply rooted in communities. We are often the trusted partners people turn to first, particularly those who face barriers to accessing statutory services. Through strong relationships, local knowledge and lived experience, we reach people who might otherwise be left behind.
The value we create extends far beyond the services we deliver.
The VCFSE sector is a significant employer, creating skilled jobs in every part of the country while supporting volunteers, developing local talent and strengthening local economies. We contribute billions of pounds in social and economic value each year and help people enter, remain in and return to work, including disabled people and unpaid carers whose contribution to society is too often overlooked.
Our work is fundamental to reducing health inequalities.
Reports only last week demonstrate that disabled people continue to experience poorer health outcomes, unequal access to services, unsuitable housing and higher levels of poverty and social isolation. We work alongside the NHS, local authorities and housing providers to address these inequalities through preventative, person-centred and community-based support. This approach improves lives while reducing pressure on public services.
As your government develops plans for the future of health, social care, housing and economic growth, we urge you to recognise that thriving communities are built through partnership. The VCFSE sector is not an optional addition to public services; it is an essential part of the nation's social and economic infrastructure.
However, too many organisations continue to operate with short-term contracts and funding, rising demand and increasing financial uncertainty – the impact of unfunded increases in employer national insurance contributions (ENICs) are still hard felt by VCFSE organisations. These cost pressures undermine workforce stability, innovation and the ability to plan for the future. Sustainable public services require sustainable investment in the organisations that help deliver them.
We therefore ask your government to:
- Recognise the VCFSE sector as a strategic partner in designing and delivering social care, health, housing and employment policy, ensuring the voices of disabled people, families and carers shape decision-making from the outset.
- Accelerate reform and the development of a long-term investment strategy for the VCFSE sector, moving away from short-term contracts and funding cycles towards sustainable commissioning and multi-year investment that enables organisations to innovate, collaborate and plan with confidence.
- Prioritise prevention and early action, recognising that investment in community-based support reduces demand on the NHS, social care and other public services while improving outcomes.
- Strengthen the social care workforce, recognising the critical contribution made by VCFSE providers in delivering high-quality, person-centred care and support.
- Work in genuine partnership with people who have lived experience, Deaf and Disabled People's Organisations, carers' organisations and community organisations, embedding co-production and lived experience at every stage of policy development and implementation.
- Place reducing health and wider inequalities at the centre of Government policy, ensuring disabled people have equitable access to healthcare, housing, employment, education and community life.
The challenges facing our country are significant, but so too are the opportunities.
Across the country, VCFSE organisations are already demonstrating how integrated, community-led support can improve lives, support co-occurring needs, reduce inequalities, strengthen resilience and deliver better value for public investment. We stand ready to work with your government to build services that are more responsive, more sustainable and more effective.
We believe that a stronger partnership between Government and the VCFSE sector will help deliver healthier communities, a stronger economy and a fairer society, one in which disabled people, families and carers are enabled not simply to cope, but to thrive.
We would welcome the opportunity to host you and your team and share directly with you the work we do to realise this shared ambition.
Yours sincerely,
Dr Rhidian Hughes, Chief Executive, Voluntary Organisations Disability Group
Aisling Duffy, Chief Executive, Certitude
Alex Brooks-Johnson, Chief Executive, Aldingbourne Trust
Alison Beachim, Chief Executive, New Outlook
Alison Cooper, Executive Director, Parity for Disability
Andrew Beland, Chief Executive, Choice Support
Andrew Willetts, Chief Executive, Orpheus Centre
Angela Duce, Chief Executive, Harpenden Mencap
Angela Murphy, Chief Executive, Fitzroy
Anna Lewis, Chief Executive, Centre 404
Anna O'Mahony, Chief Executive, Hollybank Trust
Azra Kirkby, Chief Executive, St Anne's Community Services
Be McCarroll, Chief Executive, Havencare
Caroline Collier, Chief Executive, Inclusion Barnet
Caroline Stevens, Chief Executive, National Autistic Society
Chris Askew, Chief Executive, Brainkind
Chris Hampson, Chief Executive, Look Ahead
Craig Crowley CBE, Chief Executive, Action Deafness
Daniel Carmel-Brown, Chief Executive, Jewish Care
Dawn Wood, Chief Executive, Mencap Kirklees
Diane Hesketh, Chief Executive, Natural Breaks
Emma Morris, Chief Executive, Stockdales
Emma Williams, Chief Executive, Avalon Group
Eva Eriksson, Chief Executive, Grace Eyre
Gabby Machell, Chief Executive, LDN London
Gareth Germer, Chief Executive, Chailey Heritage Foundation
Gary Jones, Chief Executive, Penderels Trust
Gill Bryant, Chief Executive, EveryStory
Hannah Tombs, Chief Executive, Ferring Country Centre
Hayley Connor, Group Chief Executive, The YOU Trust
Helen England, Chief Executive, Brandon Trust
Hilary Crowhurt, Chief Executive, Milestones
Holly Dagnall, Director, NCHA Homes and Wellbeing
Holly Spiers, Chief Executive, Walsingham
Ian Pritchard, Chief Executive, Alternative Futures Group
James Watson O'Neill, Chief Executive, Sense
Jane Hughes, Chief Executive, Mental Health Matters
Jeff Skipp, Chief Executive, Ability Housing Association
Jill Rankin, Chief Executive Chief Executive, St Elizabeths Centre
Jim Kane, Chief Executive, Community Integrated Care
Jo Adshead, Executive Director, Link-Ability
Jo Howell, Chief Executive, Northam Care Trust
Jo Land, Chief Executive, Avenues Group
John Heritage, Chief Executive, David Lewis
John Verge, Chief Executive, Golden Lane Housing
Jon Sparkes, Chief Executive, Mencap
Julie Bass, Chief Executive, Turning Point
Julie Davis, Chief Executive, Royal Society for Blind Children
Julie Doyle, Chief Executive, Amplius
Kathryn Courtenay-Evans, Chief Executive, Guideposts Trust
Katie Ghose, Chief Executive, Kids
Kerry Dearden, Chief Executive, Affinity Trust
Kevin Peacock, Chief Executive, Options
Laura Harper, Chief Executive, L'Arche
Linda Bryant, Chief Executive, Together for Mental Wellbeing
Lisa Chant, Chief Executive, Fairoak Housing Association
Lisa Hopkins, Chief Executive, SeeAbility
Lisa Wimborne, Chief Executive, Jewish Blind & Disabled
Louise Parrott-Bates, Chief Executive, Pure Innovations
Lucy Brown, Chief Executive, Disability Initiative
Lucy Warnes, Chief Executive, SignHealth
Lynette Barrett, Chief Executive, National Star
Maria Mills, Chief Executive, Active Prospects
Mark Wheatley, Chief Executive, Royal Association for Deaf People
Naomi Dickson, Chief Executive, Norwood
Neil Blanchard, Chief Executive, Southdown
Nicky Boland, Chief Executive, Outward
Rachael Dodgson, Chief Executive, Dimensions
Rachel Koivunen, Chief Executive, People in Action (Yorkshire)
Rachel Law, Chief Executive, PossAbilities
Rachel Peacock, Chief Executive, Making Space
Richard Franklin, Chief Executive, Kisharon Langdon
Robert Shanahan, Chief Executive, Aspens
Ru Watkins, Chief Executive, Hamlin
Ruth Gorman, Chief Executive, Imagine Act and Succeed
Sally Daniels, Chief Executive, Henshaws
Sarah Burslem, Chief Executive, MacIntyre
Sean Tyrer, Chief Executive, Money Carer
Simon Antrobus, Chief Executive, RNIB
Stephen Veevers, Chief Executive, Hft
Tim Davies, Chief Executive, Camphill Milton Keynes & Northants Communities
Tom Harrison, Chief Executive, Autism West Midlands
Tracey Bush, Chief Executive, One Fylde
Valerie Waby, Chief Executive, Linkage Community Trust
Victoria Neish, Chief Executive, Coquet Trust
Zoe Richardson, Chief Executive, Muscular Dystrophy Support Centre
Zoheb Shariff, Chief Executive, Mosaic 1898