‘The Committee’s report and recommendations are welcome but reiterate what we already know: councils are unable to keep up with demand for services because of short-term and insufficient funding, and it is the most vulnerable in our society that are paying the highest price.
‘Disability services rely on the state for funding, yet the government has repeatedly failed to meet the funding challenges of today. Adhoc grants continue to fall far short of the sustainable funding needed, and increasingly charities are left in an impossible situation; committed to delivering services but with operating costs that outstrip commissioned fee rates.
‘Faced with growing demand for local services, there can be no doubt that councils will be unable to meet the needs of disabled people and their families without the essential support charities provide. Councils and the voluntary sector share a common public-benefit purpose but without investment and a reframed approach to the way services are commissioned, essential support will cease to exist - the effect of which will be acutely felt by everyone.'
Notes
- For more information and spokespeople please contact Sarah Woodhouse, Head of Policy and Influencing, VODG by emailing [email protected]
- The Voluntary Organisations Disability Group (VODG) is the membership body representing over 145 voluntary sector organisations who support and work alongside disabled people. The combined turnover of our member organisations is £2.8 billion, employing 85,000 staff who support more than one million disabled people.
- The Committee’s report can be found here: https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5804/cmselect/cmcomloc/56/summary.html On children’s and adults’ social care the committee states that ‘a consistent and sustainable increase in funding is required in the long term. In the short term the Government must ensure that local authorities receive sufficient financial support to enable them to continue delivering the services that people need.’
- VODG members fed into the recent NCVO research on the true cost of giving support to public services which found 73% of charities are unable to meet current demand for the public services they deliver. While underfunding is not a new problem, the impact of continued high inflation has put charities delivering public service contracts at crisis point: https://www.ncvo.org.uk/news-and-insights/news-index/true-cost-of-public-service-delivery/