Last Updated on November 29, 2022

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP, addressed the nation today to outline the Government’s future financial plans.

In ensuring sustainable public spending, the Government said its focus is on protecting vital public services, prioritising the needs of low-income households and levelling up the country.

Addressing the House of Commons, The Chancellor said, ‘As a former Health Secretary, I know how hard people work on the frontline and how much they are struggling after the pandemic. The biggest issues are workforce shortages and pressures in the social care sector. So today I address them both.’

He added that he has listened to extensive representations about the  challenges facing the social care sector and said the sector did a ‘heroic job looking after children, disabled adults and older people during the pandemic and It’s 1.6 million employees work incredibly hard but even outside of the pandemic, the increasing number of over 80s is putting massive pressure on their services.’

The following financial commitments were outlined in the Autumn Statement:

• The Government will make available up to £2.8bn in 2023-24 in England and £4.7bn in 2024-25 to help support adult social care and discharge. This includes £1bn of new grant funding in 2023-24 and £1.7bn in 2024-25.
• Further flexibility for local authorities will be given on council tax and a delay to the rollout of adult social care charging reform from October 2023 to October 2025.
• The Government is giving local authorities in England additional flexibility in setting council tax by increasing the referendum limit for increases in council tax to 3% per year from April 2023. Local authorities with social care responsibilities will be able to increase the adult social care precept by up to 2% per year.
• £600m will be distributed in 2023-24 and £1bn in 2024-25 through the Better Care Fund to get people out of hospital on time into care settings, freeing up NHS beds for those who need them.

• £1.3bn in 2023-24 and £1.9bn in 2024-25 will be distributed to local authorities through the Social Care Grant for adult and children’s social care.
• £400m in 2023-24 and £680m in 2024-25 will be distributed through a grant ringfenced for adult social care to help to support discharge.
• While the Government recognises that some businesses may continue to require energy support beyond March 2023, the overall scale of support the Government can offer will be significantly lower and targeted at those most affected to ensure fiscal sustainability and value for money for the taxpayer.
• The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions will publish the Government’s Review of the State Pension Age in early 2023.
• The National Living Wage will increase from £9.50 an hour for over-23s to £10.42 from April 2023.

Concluding on the financial commitments made to social care, the Chancellor told the Commons, ‘Today’s decision will allow the social care system to deliver an estimated 200,000 more care packages over the next two years. The biggest increase in funding under any Government, of any colour, in history.’

Nadra Ahmed OBE, Chief Executive of the National Care Association said, ‘Over the years, we have seen our costs increase steadily and most providers have maintained through additional borrowing and efficiencies without compromising quality. Our greatest asset in delivery of quality services is our incredible workforce, so increasing their rates of pay have been incorporated in business planning with very little, if any, support in annual fee increases. We continue to face a workforce crisis unrivalled in our history and continue to look to sustainable financial investment and funding from Government to ensure adequate and reliable services going forward.

Adding, 'social care is an invaluable community service for citizens who need care and support and should be treated with respect by our partners. It will be the duty of LAs and ICB's who receive the funds to ensure it is used to support the sector. Failure to do this will undoubtedly have a serious impact on the sustainability of small and medium sized providers who make up 84% of the sector. A recent survey showed that 43% of providers in that grouping were looking at options to exit the market, which is a stark warning we understand that the figure has increased. An increase of this magnitude for the SME provider will further destabilise an already fragile market. We believe the NHS and LA's need to act responsibly to build trust and confidence in providers by using the funds they receive to ensure vulnerable people needing care and support receive it in a timely manner, otherwise they may not find themselves facing a crisis of unimaginable proportions.'

Workforce pay

Lisa Andrew, Director of Operations at PJ Care, said, ‘As a Real Living Wage employer, PJ Care supports the increase to the National Living Wage to £10.42, especially in these times of financial hardship for care staff.

‘However, the implementation of this uplift is not without its challenges. With the current inflated costs of essential utility provision, rising food and consumable costs, compounded with below-inflation fee increases from the Government, the pressures on the sector are increasing exponentially.’

She added, ‘A review by the Government of the current fees payable to the health and social care sector would assist providers in meeting this well-deserved rise. The onus cannot be solely left with providers to plug the gap. This expectation will simply lead to many providers being unable to meet this requirement, forcing closures of homes and, ultimately, increased pressure on the NHS, as there will be fewer discharge placements, for those most in need, to go to. This will culminate in further pressures on bed availability for the acutely ill in the hospitals.’

Much-needed reforms

Commenting on the 2022 Autumn Statement, Richard Murray, Chief Executive of The King’s Fund, said, ‘The significant additional funding announcement for social care indicates the Government’s recognition of the perilous state of the sector. However, increases to the National Living Wage, hikes in energy prices and ongoing inflationary pressures will all add to social care providers’ costs. It also remains unclear how much of the additional funding may have to come from council tax rises and where today's proposals leave local authority finances overall.

‘What we do know is that part of this extra funding is coming from further delay to the much-needed reforms on how we pay for adult social care. This is disappointing and the delay to the extension to the means test and a new capped-cost model will leave many thousands of families missing out on this promised new support.’

Professor Vic Rayner OBE, Chief Executive of the National Care Forum (NCF), said, ‘I fear that for the remainder of this parliament, the ambition for reform of social care has been put on the back burner. There is little in this budget that talks to the vision of developing care with people at its heart. Social care is about people, not packages and whilst discharge is vital, great social care changes lives and matters to us all and it is imperative that over the next two years the Government keeps its commitment to develop care that is fit for the future.’

Supporting people with disabilities 

Following the 2022 Autumn Statement, the Voluntary Organisations Disability Group (VODG) – a membership body for organisations working with disabled people – have responded, welcoming funding and wages increase, and outlining next steps.

Rhidian Hughes, Chief Executive, VODG, said, ‘We welcome the increase in funding to the social care sector, as well as increasing the national minimum wage. The Chancellor stated that he would protect the most vulnerable – the reality is that people are left vulnerable when they do not receive the right support. Millions of disabled people draw on social care each day to enable independent and fulfilling lives. Yet widespread problems in recruitment and retention, spiralling costs, and decreased funding are creating a perfect storm, where an increasing amount of disability support services are simply no longer viable, and care and support needs and services are at risk of being left behind.’

VODG has outlined three steps: First, the Government should now draw up plans to link social care pay to NHS pay bands. Second, the Government must sufficiently resource the forthcoming Local Government Finance Settlement to deliver adult social care for all. Third, social care needs a robust, holistic and fully-resourced plan to meet the increasing demand for essential care, given the wider economic challenges this country faces.

Homecare sector

In relation to the impact of delayed hospital discharge and waiting lists, Dr Jane Townson, Chief Executive of the Homecare Association, said, ‘Homecare plays a vital role in enabling us all to live well at home and flourish in our communities. We have already seen the impact of the lack of capacity in homecare, with over half a million people on council waiting lists for care and thousands of people stuck in hospital unable to be discharged home. In turn, this is having a negative impact on waiting times for ambulances and treatment in the NHS. The Chancellor has recognised the fact that homecare simply cannot meet the demand, and we welcome the substantial investment.’

She added, ‘We are concerned that some of the funding is based on increasing council tax. Councils in areas of higher deprivation with lower house prices will receive less funding for any increase in the rate. This will increase existing inequalities, exacerbating the post code lottery for care.’

Housing and planning

Nick Sanderson, Chief Executive of Audley Group, today called for a commitment to tackle how we care for people as they age and highlighted the importance of specialist retirement housing. Commenting on the Autumn Statement, He said, ‘An £8bn funding injection for the NHS and social care sector will be warmly welcomed by the industry. And while it will help in the short term, we must look at other ways to tackle, over the long term, the fundamental issue of how we care for people as they get older.

‘A commitment to supporting specialist retirement housing which prioritises health and wellness would bring a wealth of benefits, including helping to unplug the housing market as older people will be motivated to downsize and alleviate pressure on stretched care services. Importantly, at a time of financial strain, it doesn’t need Treasury money to happen. Reforms to planning laws that help expedite the building of these integrated retirement communities would do more to drive change than anything from the Treasury coffers. The cross-party housing for older people taskforce was announced early in 2022. This initiative was, and still is, a big step towards solving the overarching problem this country faces in terms of health, social care, and housing and now it must be advanced.’

Family carers

Dementia Carers Count (DCC) is the only charity solely focused on supporting the 700,000 families living with dementia across the UK. DCC offers a range of free services that give family carers the opportunity to understand more about dementia and to connect with others in a similar situation.

Melanie Blanksby, Dementia Carers Count Chief Executive, said, ‘More funding is vital, but there is an urgent need to improve carer outreach and make it easier for carers to access support. We look forward to a long-term plan which addresses this need and includes commitments to a well-resourced and skilled adult social care workforce. This will enable all family carers to be supported according to their needs and wishes, which include having a single point of contact, emotional support, clear information about dementia diagnosis, treatment and care and opportunities to have time away from caring responsibilities. Such an approach will enable carers not just to survive, but also to thrive.’

To read the Chancellor's Autumn Statement in full, visit the Government website. 

In other news, The Care Provider Alliance (CPA) published a new report this week, detailing the current state of social care in England.