Care England, a representative body for independent providers of adult social care, has called on the Chancellor to ensure the 2018 social care budget places the social care sector on a more secure footing.

The representative body aim to ensure the budget mirrors the approach afforded to the National Health Service (NHS) as part of a whole system response to meet health and care needs across every constituency.

Professor Martin Green OBE, Chief Executive of Care England, said: “Care England’s data analysis, to be released shortly, paints a gloomy picture of a sector struggling to meet increasing number and complexity of need set against constraints on commissioning budgets, with areas dominated by public pay residents fairing the worse.

“It is evident that short term additional resources are needed urgently in order to stabilise the market. This investment will in turn bring great benefit not only to those in receipt of services, but also to the local economy in terms of jobs, career opportunities and to the wider community in terms of sustaining resilience and independence of individuals.”

In the budget submission Care England highlighted a number of points including the need to make sure social care is protected and sustainable, addressing recruitment and retention issues and making new provisions for VAT categorisation.