On the 30th October the UK Chancellor delivered her Autumn Budget, which included changes to employer National Insurance contributions. This is a huge concern to homelessness, support and care services in Wales, which will face significantly increased costs.
We immediately understood the financial pressures and risk this would pose to our members, so we contacted senior officials that evening to raise concerns. We asked them to:
- Raise this as a matter of urgency with relevant Cabinet Secretaries and Welsh Treasury officials.
- Seek urgent clarification about whether UK Government plans to exempt/provide additional funding for public services would be restricted to ‘in-house’ public services, or would include commissioned services.
- Urge the UK Government to include commissioned services in their plans.
- Provide additional funding in the Welsh Government’s budget for these services, should the UK Government fail to act.
We were assured the next morning that the Cabinet Secretary had been briefed and our concerns had been passed onto the relevant Welsh Treasury officials involved in discussions with the UK Treasury.
Letters to UK Government and Welsh Government
We have signed two letters that have been sent on behalf of the third sector to the UK and Welsh Governments:
- The NCVO / ACEVO letter to the UK Chancellor
- The WCVA letter to the Welsh Government Cabinet Secretary for Finance
These letters ask for exemptions or financial support for the third sector as a whole. However, we felt that there would be merit in writing additional letters that specifically focus on the critical role of commissioned homelessness, care and support services in Wales – making the case that these services are vital to the NHS and local government in Wales, and must receive additional funding in the upcoming Welsh budget to cover the increase in NI costs.
- Letter to the Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government regarding homelessness and housing support services – signed by Cymorth Cymru and Community Housing Cymru
- Letter to the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, and the Minister for Social Care, regarding commissioned social care services – signed by Cymorth Cymru, Care Forum Wales, Community Housing Cymru and the Homecare Association.
- Letter to the First Minister regarding all commissioned health, care and support services in Wales – signed by Cymorth Cymru, Wales Alliance for Mental Health and Developing a Caring Wales.
