Providers Unite, a grassroots coalition uniting community care and support providers across the UK to advocate for care sector survival, is hosting a peaceful walk and picnic in London to highlight the value of social care and support services.

The Providers Unite Picnic will take place on 25 February at the Parliament Square Gardens in London. Attendance should be confirmed by 17 February at 5pm via LinkedIn or Facebook.

The event is designed to highlight the challenges faced by thousands of care and support providers. It is an opportunity to discuss with Providers Unite and industry peers why the UK Government needs to provide appropriate funding for social care, which is an essential public service.

The Providers Unite Picnic follows the Autumn Budget 2024, where Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves detailed the UK Government’s tax and spending plans.

Two points in particular from the Budget have been highlighted as urgent and deep concerns by the social care sector:

• The increase in employers’ National Insurance Contributions, which will rise from 13.8 percent to 15 percent. Additionally, the threshold at which businesses start paying National Insurance on a worker’s earnings will be lowered from £9,100 to £5,000.
• The rise in the National Living Wage from April 2025, which will be increased by 6.7 percent, from £11.44 an hour to £12.21 hour, for people aged 21 and over.

Providers Unite states that while it strongly supports fair wages for the social care workforce, these additional costs, brought in with just six months’ notice, are entirely unfunded, adding an estimated £2.8 billion per year to the social care sector’s costs.

Despite this additional cost pressure, the government has only committed to £880 million in additional funding through the Social Care Grant for 2025-2026.

Providers Unite adds that the National Minimum Wage has increased by 37.04 percent between April 2021 and April 2025, but funding has not kept pace, placing care providers on an unstable footing and pushing many towards the brink of bankruptcy.

Research from the Health Foundation suggests that there is a sector-wide funding gap of £8.4 billion. Meanwhile, the Nuffield Trust calculated the overall financial impact of the additional costs of the Autumn Budget 2024 on independent care and support providers as £2.8 billion. Cumulatively, this cost of investment from April 2025 is more than £10 billion.

Providers Unite underlines that community care and support services are uniquely vulnerable to these changes in the Autumn Budget because 70 percent to more than 80 percent of their costs go towards employing people, meaning wage increases have a disproportionate financial impact. Additionally, community care and support services’ workforces are largely part-time and low-paid, leading to higher National Insurance costs with sudden wage increases.

The impact of the Budget will lead to drastic consequences for the social care sector if funding does not improve.

These consequences include care and support providers being forced out of business, leaving local authorities and the NHS to take on additional responsibility; increased safeguarding risks and difficulty meeting demand, further straining families and local economies; and reduced investment in high-quality support, limiting independence, choice, and control for those who rely on care.

Providers Unite reaffirms that without urgent intervention, many care and support providers will be forced to close, leaving people without the crucial support they need. The Providers Unite Picnic is a chance to call for the vital funding that the social care sector depends on.