North Wales MS Mark Isherwood has slated the Welsh Government’s Draft Budget, which he said will starve Charitable and Community service providers of resources.
In this afternoon’s Debate on the Draft Budget, Mr Isherwood spoke of the detrimental impact it will have on key services provided by charitable organisations, including Hospices, quoting service providers themselves, all of whom have expressed concern about the pressures they are facing because of National Insurance and Minimum Wage increases.
Speaking in the Senedd Chamber, he said:
“This Draft Budget is littered with false economies, smoke and mirrors.
“Our Charities and Community Organisations work with individuals and families from the ground up, delivering key services which improve lives, whilst also reducing demand on Statutory Services. However, despite his public support for prudent Health and Care Services, with service professionals, services users and their communities working side by side to deliver solutions, and for inclusion, prevention and early intervention, this Finance Secretary has delivered a statist folly of a Draft Budget, starving Charitable and Community service providers of resources, and thereby generating far higher cost pressures for Statutory Service Providers.”
He added:
“Operating in every Welsh Health Board, 16 charitable Hospices provide essential care to more than 20,000 children and adults in Wales affected by terminal and life-limiting illnesses each year. Every Hospice in Wales is forecasting a deficit for this financial year.
“A survey by Hospice UK found that over 20% of Welsh Hospices are reducing the number of inpatient beds or wider hospice services and that 90% of Welsh hospices agreed that cost of living pressures are highly likely to result in reduced support being available to the wider system, such as hospitals and care homes.
“They are calling on the Welsh Government to urgently provide £5.9m in-year funding to Welsh Hospices to cover the impact of NHS pay rises on Hospice staffing costs, stating ‘this is essential to safeguard the immediate future of Hospice services in Wales and the vital care they provide, pending a longer-term sustainable arrangement’.
“Although they welcome the Welsh Government’s commitment to allocate an additional £3m in recurring funding in the Draft Budget, they state that this figure cannot be described as sustainable considering it will quickly be cancelled out by National Insurance and Minimum Wage increases of £1.8m and the expected impact on Hospice staffing costs of future Agenda for Change increases.”
He added:
“Shelter Cymru state that while they join sector colleagues in celebrating the £21 million uplift to Housing Support Grant in this Draft Budget, the Homelessness Prevention Grant is allocated cash-flat funding, which would represent two consecutive years of real term cuts in funding for homelessness prevention through this.
“They are clear that the impact of this Draft Budget, alongside the additional pressure from the increased cost of National Insurance changes, would require a £70,000 saving, directly impacting staffing and their ability to help people, with an estimated 360 fewer households able to access their expert advice services.
“Cymorth Cymru and Community Housing Cymru state that 81% of homelessness/support providers are running services at a deficit and that providers say they need around a 9% budget increase just to cover National Insurance changes.”
He said other charitable and community organisations have also spoken of their concerns, including homelessness and rough sleeping charity The Wallich, non-profit Care Forum Wales, the NSPCC, Tenovus Cancer Care, who have said that the effect of the Welsh Government’s draft budget and the UK budget will be fewer support services for people affected by cancer, and mental health and addiction charity Adferiad, who have said that the rise in National Insurance will cost them £600,000 a year and, without mitigation, they will have to let staff go and reduce services.
Mr Isherwood added:
“On issue after issue, this Draft Budget is throwing mud at the wall whilst digging up the wall’s foundations. Rather than deliver efficiencies and save money, this dumb budgeting will generate inefficiencies, higher public service costs and entirely avoidable social injustices.”