Our Spring Statement 2019 Response

Wed,13 March 2019
News

Disability Rights UK is disappointed with the Chancellor’s Spring Statement

Philip Connolly, policy manager for Disability Rights UK, said the failure to mention disabled people in the spring statement should be “a wake up call to the disability sector”.

He questioned why disability organisations have failed to lobby the Treasury directly when all individual government departments had to do so, and when “the Treasury’s own website permits direct dialogue”.

Connolly called for a sector-wide campaign for an inclusive economy, focused upon the next spending review.

We can also only echo the response of Caroline Abrahams, Charity Director at Age UK and Co- chair of the Care and Support Alliance  (CSA) who said:

“Not for the first time the Chancellor held out the prospect of unspecified amounts of ‘jam tomorrow’ for our beleaguered social care system, but only if a deal to leave the European Union is agreed by Parliament. Given the uncertainty over that it is difficult to be at all confident that relief is on the way any time soon. Meanwhile, with only a couple of weeks to go now until April we notice that Ministers and officials have stopped saying that the repeatedly delayed Social Care Green Paper may be published that month.

“If this endless prevarication over social care didn’t have such serious consequences for millions of older and disabled people whose needs are not being fully, or in many cases even partly met, it would be laughable. Of course, great matters of State are under discussion and in important respects the future of our country is at stake, but with each delay it is becoming harder to avoid the conclusion that the political commitment to reform and sustain social care is just not there at the moment, leaving many older and disabled people, and their families and carers, to pay an extremely heavy price.”   

DR UK is a member of the Care and Support Alliance.