We welcome the government’s decision to uprate the Minimum Income Guarantee for disabled adults in social care. Years of frozen rates caused serious hardship for people in social care, and an uplift that outpaces inflation is an important step towards addressing these harms. 

This decision comes at a critical time in the government’s drive towards social care reform, and after years of stagnation, the pace of progress can’t stop here. Social care reform needs to deliver for the whole system: disabled people, carers and families, statutory services and the VCSE mental health social care sector.  

Mental health charities provide social care and support to people up and down the country yet are held back by a lack of long-term planning and underinvestment, which causes a ripple of losses to the NHS and our communities. Only with long-term investment and sustainability imperatives can the mental health social care sector, and the people it supports, truly thrive.  

The Association of Mental Health Providers and our 300+ member organisations are here to work with Government to ensure that reform works for the full diversity of people who rely on social care, and the charities which fill the gaps in service provision.