Unpacking the implications of the November UK Budget over croissants and coffee was definitely a highlight of the week, as one omission loomed larger than any fiscal forecast: the near-total absence of social care from the Chancellor’s agenda. At a time when councils are stretched beyond sustainability, families are breaking under the weight of unpaid care, and an ageing population is accelerating demand, the budget’s silence on social care is more than an oversight, it is a strategic failure. The discussion asked not only what was included in the budget, but what was left out, and what that absence means for the country’s most vulnerable citizens and for the future resilience of our public services.
More than 50 care leaders, investors and policymakers, who collectively warned that the Government’s smorgasbord of tax announcements will hit providers and self-funders in an already beleaguered sector landscape, came together for the event.
Panel guests were: Damian Green, Former Deputy Prime Minister, LaingBuisson Founder and Executive Director William Laing, Clare Connell, CEO Connell Consulting, Andrea Auteri, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Elevation Advisor and chaired by Bridgehead Communications, and Chaired by Managing Director, William Walter.
Policy coordination and long-term reform
Having been absent from the Budget, social care’s future requires cross-departmental coordination. Also highlighted by the panel and audience members was the persistent clash between local authority and NHS budgets, leaving social care underrepresented in planning and resource allocation.
In regard to this, during the Q&A segment of the panel, a provider asked whether taking the funding responsibility away from local authorities would address these imbalances. The panel emphasised that the local government sector remains deeply immersed in devolution reform and “extremely patchy across the country,” reinforcing the argument for national funding of adult social care.
Overall, the panel painted a picture of a sector facing rising costs and tightening workforce pressures, all without a clear plan from the Government. With social care absent from the Budget entirely, speakers warned that without national leadership and long-term funding reform, the system risks drifting further into crisis