Mr McCay estimates Labour’s Budget National Insurance raid will cause a £1.4m hit to his charity (Image: The Wilf Ward Family Trust)
The financial hurricane heading towards Britain’s battered will see hundreds of businesses collapse, a charity boss predicts.
The Wilf Ward Family Trust is one of a number of organisations providing around-the-clock care to those unable to look after themselves.
It supports individuals with learning disabilities, profound needs and challenging behaviours in Yorkshire.
Yet despite its life-saving and unsung work chief executive Paul McCay, 52, calculates changes to National Insurance payments and wage rises announced in the Budget will cost £1.4 million next year.
And although prudent planning will enable service to continue, the future is precarious for the entire social care sector.
He said: “We support 290 people who cannot help themselves. The majority require two-to-one support and we employ 890 staff.
“Last year we saw a 12% increase in our costs while fees increased by as much as 6.9% so paying 15 per cent NI on salaries above £5,000 will see us squeezed even further.”
The charity, which covers North Yorkshire, the East Riding of Yorkshire, and Leeds, offers respite care, registered care and supported living.
It has no self-funders – individuals who pay for the care they receive. Instead, it receives fees from local authorities and the NHS, both of which are under-funded and struggling. Any increase in costs will be hard to pass on.
The crisis permeating social care is longstanding but Mr McCay thinks the Budget announcements will be a tipping point for many crucial services.
He said: “The chances announced in the Budget will hit our bottom line by £1.4 million.
“The choices are stark. I can underdeliver, but I am not going to that because we are a charity and have a moral duty to the people we support who will otherwise not be well looked after, or I can go to the local authorities and ask for more money, but they will say no.
“We are approaching a situation where a significant part of the social care sector will have to really look at the services they provide. It can’t carry on like this.
“We have been saying it’s a crisis for years, but this will be the straw that broke the camel’s back for many. Putting it bluntly, there will be people who will not receive the care they need because businesses fold. It really is as simple as that.”