Our response to the Chancellor’s Spending Inheritance Statement

The Association of Mental Health Providers, the leading representative body for voluntary and community sector mental health organisations in England and Wales, has responded to the Chancellor’s Spending Inheritance Statement whereby Rachel Reeves agreed that the government would not be taking forward planned reforms for adult social care charges.

Kathy Roberts, Chief Executive of the Association of Mental Health Providers, said: 

“We are disappointed about the Chancellor’s announcement. The proposed reforms for adult social care charges would have introduced an £86,000 cap on the costs an elderly or disabled person would have to pay towards their support at home or in care homes starting from next October, and now thousands of people will struggle to pay for essential care costs.

The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Wes Streeting, told the BBC prior to the general election: “One of the things that we have committed to is, obviously the cap on care costs is due to come in, I have wanted to give the system the certainty this side of the election of knowing we are not planning to come in and upend that and scrap that.”

However, after multiple delays since the social care cost cap was first announced in 2011, and savings of £1 billion described by Chancellor Rachel Reeves, we remain concerned about the human cost, the crisis the social care sector faces, the thousands of people left without vital care or support, and an understaffed and underfunded system.”