Budget measures will hit care providers, experts say

Rachel Reeves’s Budget measures will devastate care providers, leaving vulnerable disabled and elderly people without care next year, healthcare experts are warning.

- JANE DALTON

The disastrous scenario could also bankrupt local authorities, care providers say.

The rise in employers’ national insurance in April, together with increases in the minimum wage and national living wage, will threaten the future of care companies, according to the Homecare Association, a membership body for care providers.

The warning follows a report by industry analysts LaingBuisson that found a widening gap between the profits of providers reliant on privately paying customers and those of providers dependent on clients funded by the state or NHS.

The care sector is especially sensitive to minimum wage changes because care worker pay is among the lowest in the UK, statistics show, and most workers are on low wages. The association says that if care providers fold, the UK risks widespread failure of care provision, which could “leave people without care, overwhelm family carers and cripple NHS services”.