Stand up for social care: urgent call for action to secure the future of vital services

“Social care impacts 1 in 3 of us. Without proper funding, individuals, families, and communities will suffer,” said Sue Livett. “We need to ensure West Sussex County Councillors understand that social care changes lives and must receive the support it deserves.”

The rally calls on the community to join with placards, voices, and passion to make their message heard: Social care needs urgent and meaningful investment.

Challenges Facing the Social Care Sector

Social care providers across Sussex, particularly those supporting individuals with learning disabilities, face mounting financial pressures that threaten the sustainability of essential services. Key challenges include:

• National Insurance Increase:A 1.2% rise in employer contributions and a reduced threshold to £5,000 have significantly impacted payroll costs in a sector heavily reliant on low-wage, part-time staff.
• National Living Wage (NLW) Increase:A 6.7% rise in the NLW, while beneficial to workers, has placed additional pressure on budgets.Many organisations strive to pay the Real Living Wage, which has increased by 60p per hour, exacerbating financial strain.
• Contract and Provider Viability:Multi-year contracts without annual inflationary adjustments are putting services at risk.

These issues have caused staffing costs to rise dramatically, alongside inflationary pressures on utilities and supplies.

Urgent Fee Uplifts Needed

The Sussex Learning Disability VCSE CEO Group - which Sue Livett is a member of and includes senior leaders from Southdown, Guild Care, Active Prospects, Grace Eyre, Amaze, Ferring County Centre and Speak Out - is urging local authorities to implement a minimum 8% fee uplift for learning disability residential services in the 2025/26 financial year. Similar inflationary increases are requested for other service types to:

• Maintain adequate staffing levels.
• Attract and retain skilled professionals with competitive wages.
• Preserve the quality of care and support for individuals with learning disabilities.

Representatives from the Sussex Learning Disability VCSE CEO Group, alongside colleagues from West Sussex Partner in Care, attended a meeting on 22nd January with West Sussex County Council, where they shared that the current proposal is an average fee uplift of 5.3%, with acknowledgment that this disregards the significant impact of the rise in employers National Insurance and will not fully meet provider costs. Care sector representatives stated that the proposed 5.3% is not acceptable and further actions will be required, including formal appeals and serious consideration on the future viability of services and placements.

West Sussex County Council are undertaking their own lobbying of Government, and the care sector is willing to support this, but feel that the day of action on the 29th January is required to encourage the Council to reconsider their current fee proposal to ensure that the local care sector is supported during these very challenging times.

For more information, contact the Aldingbourne Trust at [email protected].