Charity 'will cost £200k more to run' after Budget

An independent dementia charity has said the government's autumn Budget will add £200,000 to its running costs next year.

Sarah Marriott, head of Alzheimer's Support Wiltshire, said she did not want to "scaremonger" but she might have to look at options such as putting up the costs for services or downscaling them.

The charity explained that changes to employers’ national insurance contributions (NICs), on top of the minimum age increase, meant it had to find an extra £200,000 on top of a £100,000 cut in its commissioned contract from Wiltshire Council.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves said the government had taken a "number of difficult but necessary decisions on tax, welfare and spending to fix the public finances".

Ms Marriott has signed an open letter by the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) to the chancellor calling for more financial support for charities, including for them to be exempt from the NICs increase in the same way as public sector organisations.

The charity said it supported about 2,500 people in Wiltshire "on the frontline of social care, supporting some of the most vulnerable people in our communities".

It has flexible services for people living at home with all types of dementia and their family carers. These include day care, support at home, carers’ groups and many different activity groups.

Employing 150 people, Ms Marriott says she "fully supports" staff getting paid properly, but rises do impact charities.

She has looked at the figures and said to implement the wage change, she needed to do that across the board for staff.

"It becomes increasingly difficult to find that money," she said.

"I don't want to be scaremongering. A lot of people rely on us."

Ms Marriott says she does not want to lose staff but could instead not refill vacant positions - although added people were already working at capacity.

She explained that with many charities filling in gaps in social care, she would like the government to recognise that.

In response to NCVO's open letter, the chancellor said one of the "toughest decisions" the Labour government had taken was raising the rate of employer NICs from 13.8% to 15%, while reducing the per-employee threshold at which employers start to pay NICs.

Ms Reeves said: "You have asked if the government will provide further support to the voluntary sector by exempting or reimbursing the sector for the increase in employer NICs.

"The government has committed to provide support for departments and other public sector employers for additional employer NICs costs only.

"This is the usual approach the government takes to supporting the public sector with additional employer NICs costs, as was the case with the previous government’s Health and Social Care Levy."

She added: "We remain committed to ensuring that the sector is recognised and valued for the crucial support it provides to so many people and look forward to continuing to work together."

Wiltshire Council's cabinet member for adult social care Jane Davies said: “We work closely with all our providers and we understand the challenges many are facing at this time.

"Alzheimer’s Support Wiltshire are contracted to provide a range of services to our residents with no reduction to their funding. If there are any concerns, we are here to talk to our providers.”

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