Looking ahead to the General Election
On Wednesday 6 March the Chancellor of the Exchequer is presenting his latest Budget – we know it will be the last one before the General Election. We also know that the social care sector won’t be getting the long-term funding that it so desperately needs.
This is despite an ongoing and deepening crisis in the sector:
- There are an estimated 152,000 staff vacancies in the adult social care sector.
- There is a £2.9bn chasm between the funding that’s available from central government and the cost of delivering care.
- There are nearly half a million people just waiting to be assessed for adult social care.
The cost of not finding a sustainable solution for social care can be seen everywhere: it means longer NHS waiting lists; it means local authorities pushed towards bankruptcy and having to radically cut other services to make ends meet; care providers handing back local authority contracts or exiting the market; it means a high turnover of undervalued staff, who often don’t get the training they need; and most importantly of all it means older people too often not getting the choice and quality of care they deserve.
Ahead of the Spring Budget, charities normally ask their supporters to lobby for more money, but we know that this year that would be a waste of time and effort. But we also know we can’t just stand by and do nothing – so we’re looking ahead to the General Election.
We’re asking our supporters to write to their local Member of Parliament to ask that they push for lasting, sustainable funding to be included in their party’s manifesto at the next election. The only way we’ll get the lasting change we need for social care is by making sure it’s a real priority for the next government, whoever that is.
We need as many people as possible to raise their voices so that older people can live later life well. You can take part by emailing your MP. Sign up to use our email template - it only take a few minutes!