Autumn Budget comment from our CEO

Autumn Budget comment

Normandie Wragg, Nugent CEO, said:

For 140 years, Nugent has continued to provide life-changing and life-saving care and support to the most vulnerable children, young people and adults in society, through our network of schools, care homes, and community and social work services. For us to continue providing these much-needed services in our community, we rely on a strong, high quality, skilled workforce – and that is where the central Government’s Autumn Budget falls short.

The pandemic has led to an inability to hire staff across our sector because supermarkets and hospitality are paying well over the average to attract people in to work. If we cannot compete, recruit and retain the numbers and calibre of staff needed to provide high-quality care and support, then we won’t be able to provide these services, which is a huge worry.

Nugent is already committed to the Real Living Wage, but funding from central government – which impacts the funds available for our services from our commissioners in the Local Authority – is simply not enough for us to keep up with the rising costs of inflation, investment in our services and to cover wage inflation workforce supply and retention.

I know I join others in our sector across the Liverpool City Region in calling on local government to immediately ensure that social care contracts allow for payment of the Real Living Wage, so we can recruit the best people. By the public, private and third sectors working together with the people who use our services and their families, I am confident we can create a long-term solution with a focus on the positive outcomes of today, providing outstanding start to end of life care for society’s most vulnerable.