A Kent Autistic Trust client and staff members talk about the impact of the budget on the care sector
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00:00Enter Carton's home in Canterbury. He's an adult living with autism. His interests are obvious,
00:12and he can safely choose his next sci-fi blockbuster knowing there's around the clock
00:18care. But he's acutely aware that the charity supporting him is fearing for their future
00:24following the budget. If it weren't for Limbaugh, I don't know where I would be.
00:27We need urgent action to ensure social care can survive these rising costs.
00:37One example is carers don't have enough money. Like, staff here have to pay for their own food.
00:44But after they pay all their bills and for children and that, they've got next to nothing.
00:49They can't really. It's just so costly. Cost of living is just ridiculous.
00:55Carton is one of around 100 individuals in the care of the Kent Autistic Trust.
01:00Tamzim is checking in on him today. She's helping come up with his support plans.
01:06For Carton, it's calming him down to prevent meltdowns. The social care charity also works
01:11on proactive measures to keep adults on the autistic spectrum out of the NHS.
01:18The staff that are working with people, they have to adapt all the time. They have to know
01:23people inside out. They have to pick up on tiny little clues. They need to know what to do about
01:29them. They need to memorise lots of things. And then they need to change that for every single
01:35person that they're working with. So, yeah, it's really, really skilled work.
01:41The organisation has been supporting people on the autistic spectrum for more than 30 years,
01:46but says this is the biggest financial challenge they've faced.
01:50It welcomes the rise in the national living wage. But with national insurance contributions
01:55changing, they say they'll need an 11% increase in funding to meet that.
02:01This decision had unintended consequences, because the consequences are the collapse of the sector.
02:09And what would happen then? I'd rather not think about that, to be honest, because
02:14you can't imagine a society and a community without being able to support the most vulnerable.
02:22So Labour in the election campaign were promising community care. That's what they wanted to focus
02:26on. We've now got this budget and you feel it's doing the complete opposite. How does that feel?
02:31We are quite taken aback that this would be the right way forward to actually
02:39raid providers who themselves need investment at the moment.
02:44The county council says the £600 million for government is promising
02:48won't even scratch the surface.
02:51We are advocating that government exempt social care providers from this change in national
02:57insurance. The public sector is in effect compensated for it, but this is a case of
03:03commissioned services and those providers are not under the current arrangements reimbursed.
03:09That means that they end up coming under yet more severe pressure.
03:15With more than one in 100 people on the autistic spectrum,
03:18the Trust fears the consequences these changes could bring,
03:22and is calling on the government to reverse reforms or provide further financial support
03:27for the sector. Gabriel Morris in Canterbury.