Chancellor Rachel Reeves told she should change course on employers’ contributions for sector
More than 80 not-for-profit social care organisations have signed a letter to the chancellor urging her to provide relief on increased employers’ National Insurance (NI) bills for them as providers of crucial public services.
The letter, coordinated by the Coalition of Care & Support Providers in Scotland (CCPS) and featuring CCPS members, makes clear the devastating impact that the policy would have on organisations providing social care, and on people receiving support.
CCPS estimates that not-for-profit social care providers will face an additional bill in the region of £30 million next year to cover both the NI rate increase and the threshold reduction – money that providers do not have, and have no means to raise.
The signatory organisations span all aspects of not-for-profit provision in Scotland for adults, children and young people.
Rachel Cackett, CEO of CCPS, said: “As the representative voice for the sector, and on behalf of our community of providers, we’ve written to the chancellor to make absolutely clear the existential threat this policy poses to not-for-profit social care, and the wider consequences it would have.
“The relief apparently being offered by the chancellor to the public sector quite simply fails to recognise the reality of contemporary public services. Our providers deliver public services, largely through publicly funded contracts with the public sector.
“The eNIC policy is being introduced at a time when social care providers are already at extreme risk. In March this year, over 80% of our members who responded to a survey told us they were delivering public contracts despite a deficit budget.
“And as our letter states, these pressures are not limited to Scotland; the effects of long-standing under-investment in support services are being felt across the UK. Social care is pared to the bone.
“How can the UK Government claim that those with the broadest shoulders should pay more when this policy will impact not-for-profit organisations supporting some of the most vulnerable people in our society?
“Services cannot continue if they are not financially viable. This policy will impact jobs – particularly for women – and risk the loss of crucial community-based provision for people who desperately need more well-resourced, rights-based, accessible, quality support.
“We urge the chancellor to provide relief at source to providers, with a recognition that not doing so will devastate public services, including those provided by the senior leaders who have signed this letter – services which are central to the UK Government’s ambitions.”
