Yesterday’s Budget overlooks the need to bolster the nation’s fragile social care system, according to the Voluntary Organisations Disability Group (VODG).

The not-for-profit disability providers welcomed the Chancellor’s announcement to delivering the consistently delayed social care Green Paper with financial investments that included:

• £650m of grant funding for local councils in 2019/20 and
• £45m for the disabled facilities grant in 2018/19.

VODG comment that the financial plans still leave the sector under-funded with people unable to access support to help them today.

The VODG website said: “The sector is under increasing strain, as reflected in recent NHS Digital Figures showing that rising demand for adult social care over the last year equates to an additional 5,100 new requests for help per day.”

Currently, there are 11.5m disabled people in the UK with that figure expected to rise to 12.2 by 2025.

Dr Rhidian Hughes, chief executive for VODG, said: “Today’s budget takes us a small step forward. But overall the investment announced by the Chancellor is short-sited.

“It failed to acknowledge the risks facing a crucial, but woefully under-funded, social care sector delivering support for millions of older and disabled people every day. It is disappointing that the people who rely on essential care services, that enable them to live the lives they choose, have again been overlooked in the nation’s spending plan.”