With charities and third sector organisations facing new pressures due to increases in National Insurance contributions, North Wales MS Mark Isherwood has called on the Welsh Government to protect the key services they provide.
Questioning the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Trefnydd and Chief Whip in today’s meeting of the Welsh Parliament, Mr Isherwood stressed that the significant hike in National Insurance announced in the UK Government’s Autumn Budget will impact the service delivery of charities and asked what is being done by the Welsh Government to mitigate this.
He said:
“Cancer care charity Tenovus have called the rise in National Insurance contributions ‘devastating’ and urged Welsh Ministers to mitigate the impact.
“The Wales Council for Voluntary Action’s stated: 'This is a significant new cost that many organisations simply cannot absorb without a corresponding impact on their service delivery'.
“Hospices in Wales are having to consider significant cuts, which would leave huge gaps in provision for the communities they serve that the Health Boards won't be able to replace.
“Mental health and addiction charity Adferiad told me that that this will cost them £600,000 a year and, without mitigation, they will have to let staff go and reduce services.
“Shelter Cymru state this will increase the costs of housing support and homelessness prevention providers by £117,000 in the first six months alone.
“You previously told me that you ‘are currently engaging with third sector partners … to assess budgetary needs following the UK government’s Autumn Budget’. So, what assessment have you made of the impact if these vital services are lost, and how do you propose to mitigate this and therefore prevent higher cost pressures on Public Services?”
In her response the Cabinet Secretary said:
“We are aware of the impact of the increases in employer national insurance contributions. Some of those, as you know, will be fully or partially offset by the increased employer allowance, and I'd also expect any additional funding for public services to benefit the third sector and the services they provide to people and communities across Wales.”