‘The mini budget’ – BASW shares what action the Government should take

The Chancellor of the Exchequer has announced that there will be a ‘mini budget’ on 23rd September as pressure on the Government to tackle the cost-of-living crisis increases.

When Liz Truss became Prime Minister on 6th September, all eyes were on her to see what action she would take specifically on energy prices. Two days into the role, she announced that a typical household would not pay more than £2500 per year for the next two years. While this took some immediate pressure off households who were bracing themselves for bills that they wouldn’t have been able to pay, there are still fears over other bills such as rent and food that are growing, especially in cities. The announcement has been met with some criticism as households with higher incomes will disproportionately benefit from the energy cost freeze, while households on low incomes continue to struggle even with prices capped.

After the UK Parliament shut down as a result of the announcement of Queen Elizabeth II’s death, this postponed any further announcements from the Government.

With MPs going into a recess to allow party conferences to go ahead in late-September, the pressure is on the Government to quickly announce a package of support for people hardest hit by the cost-of-living crisis.

While energy prices and the cost of living has become more prominent in the media as bills spiral out of control, BASW knows that many people have been suffering under austerity measures for 12 years. Any announcement by the Government must recognise that people living in poverty have been hit by successive policy interventions over the years that have reduced household income and made it harder to afford basic essentials.

In the mini-budget, BASW want to see:

1. Immediate uplift to Universal Credit and legacy benefits in line with inflation

People who survive on small amounts of money, such as those on social security, cannot tighten their belts or dip into savings. Living month to month with barely enough money to get by means that when costs rise even just a little, people have to cut back on the essentials such as food or heating. People on social security will not benefit from tax cuts, and they cannot wait for promises of acting in the future. An injection of funding to help people on Universal Credit and legacy benefits get through the crisis must be top of the Government’s list.

Low incomes can result in poverty, which can add to existing problems such as domestic violence and mental health problems and push vulnerable parents into despair. If the Government is serious about reducing the number of children coming into care and supporting families to stay together, then Government must take positive action to deliver this. Tackling poverty is one of those positive actions.

2. Supporting the social work workforce

Millions of people have been hit by the rising cost of living, and even those in full-time work are worrying about how to make ends meet. With fuel costs and energy bills rising, the Government must take action to support social workers through the crisis by lifting the non-taxable rate to 60p a mile on mileage allowance and increase the working from home allowance so that those who use their home to work from are not penalised through their energy bills.

3. Investment in social work and social care

Cuts to local authority budgets has resulted in councils and services having much less money to deliver the support that people need.  Reductions to local authority budgets have forced councils into prioritising statutory services, with preventative and early intervention services being cut. We are also aware that some statutory services are being deprioritised, which is leading to soaring demand for later stage crisis services.

Our society has an ageing population, across all income groups, and as you well know increasing numbers of frail elderly and disabled people have increasingly complex needs. Sufficient funding is required to avert a developing Adult Social Care crisis, which will affect all but the wealthiest in our society.

We are aware that the Prime Minister pledged to redirect he £13bn marked for the NHS to social care, but simply moving money around between services that work together will not deliver positive outcomes. Both the NHS and social care needs to be properly funded and not pit against each other, to ensure proper integration.