Spring Budget 2024: MHA Chief Executive Comments

There’s a gaping chasm between government funding for social care and the cost of providing care. In reality, we’re not expecting this shortfall to be addressed when the Chancellor outlines his Spring Budget this week.

But what we do want is for all political parties to present a credible, sustainable plan to put to voters ahead of the next General Election. This is why we’ve been asking our supporters to write to their local MP, to ensure social care remains high on the agenda.

The sector has reached a crisis point. There are nearly half a million people waiting to be assessed and an estimated 152,000 staff vacancies in the sector. Local authorities are falling into bankruptcy, NHS waiting lists are growing and older people are too often not getting the choice and quality of care they deserve.

We know that fixing these problems will require significant investment and that whoever forms the next government will need to increase funding in an affordable and manageable way. But this does not prevent the main political parties from demonstrating that they understand the sector’s needs and are willing to tackle its issues head on. We’ll wait and see what Wednesday 6 March brings.

There's still time to write to your MP using our easy template to help get social care higher on the Government agenda.