During Education Committee this week, we heard about the devastating impact that measures announced in the Budget will have on charities providing services to children.
During the session, we heard from Harriet Edwards from Sense, a charity who provide services to children with disabilities, including deafblindness, that their charity alone will face a £5 million increase in costs because of the measures announced by the Chancellor.
The survey of disability charities by VODG and Cordis Bright found the increased cost of NICs and wages will result in an estimated £266million shortfall next year, with over 60 per cent of disability charities surveyed expecting to be in financial deficit as early as March 2025.
It is incredibly worrying to hear that some services may need to shrink, or even worse, be cut completely because of this. I will raise the issue further with the relevant Secretary of State. The Government must rethink their plans before it is too late.