Today the Chancellor of the Exchequer Phillip Hammond announced
The Budget
The
Budget
A budget is a plan where you look at how much money you have and how you will spend it.
is the plan
the government
The Government are the people who run the country. The Government decide how much
tax
Tax is the money that pays for things like schools, hospitals and the police. There are different types of taxes like
income tax
Income tax is the money that is taken out of the money you earn every month. It helps to pay for things we all need like hospitals and schools.
,
VAT
VAT is also called Value Added Tax. VAT is the extra money you pay when you buy things. The money goes to the government to pay for things like schools and hospitals.
and
council tax
Council
A council is also called a
local authority
A local authority is also called a council. They are a group of people who make decisions about some of the things in the area where you live like schools,
social care
Social care means the services that give care and support to people who need it.
(support for people), parks and dustbin collection.
. They are a group of people who make decisions about some of the things in the area where you live. These include: schools, social care (support for people), parks and dustbin collection.
Tax is the money that people pay to the
council
A council is also called a
local authority
A local authority is also called a council. They are a group of people who make decisions about some of the things in the area where you live like schools,
social care
Social care means the services that give care and support to people who need it.
(support for people), parks and dustbin collection.
. They are a group of people who make decisions about some of the things in the area where you live. These include: schools, social care (support for people), parks and dustbin collection.
. It helps to pay for things like social care (support for people), parks and dustbin collection.
.
people should pay and how things like the National Health
Service
A service gives people what they need, like healthcare services that help people when they are ill, and support services that give people support.
(
NHS
The NHS is the National Health Service. The NHS gives free healthcare to everyone in the UK and includes things like your GP (doctors) surgery and hospitals.
) should work.
has for what it will spend money on and how it will raise money to pay for the spending. The Budget tells us if there will be any changes to how much people pay for things.
, offering £2bn towards social care over the next three years, but offered no mention of reversing damaging cuts to disability benefits. Mencap responds below.
Dan Scorer, Head of Policy at
learning disability
A learning disability is to do with the way someone's brain works. It makes it harder for someone to learn, understand or do things.
charity Mencap, said:
The government’s long overdue recognition of the crisis in social care is welcome. The additional funding announced today will offer some stability as the government moves to consult on future funding options later this year. However, £4.6bn has been taken out of social care funding in the last six years, with people facing cuts to support and services. Future funding arrangements must be sustainable and sufficient to meet projected needs of disabled people in years to come.
The Chancellor has failed to take this final chance to halt a deeply damaging cut to Employment
Employment means having a job. and Support Allowance due to come in from April, stripping disabled people assessed as unable to work of £30 per week. This will only push disabled people further away from work by creating hardship and insecurity, damaging the government’s stated aim of halving the disability employment
Lorainne Bellamy, Mencap
spokesperson
A spokesperson is someone who speaks up about something. They usually speak up on behalf of a group or
organisation
An organisation are a group of people who work together.
.
who has a learning disability, said:
I have a learning disability and have been living on my own now for seven years. My supporter helps me with letters about my tax credits which are really difficult to understand. She helps me read and understand my telephone bills, my gas bills, my insurance and my statements from the bank. She has helped me set up direct debits so I can pay my bills and not get into debt. I used to not get any support at home, I struggled a lot, but this help has made a real difference.
I know how important the support I have had has been in allowing me to be independent. I am worried that there are people worse off than me who don’t get any support at all and worry about what happens to them. The government need to make sure people with a learning disability and their families get the right support.
Michelle Ornstein is 22 and has a learning disability, she currently receives ESA. She said:
If the cuts go ahead, I’m worried about what will happen. I have anxiety and the money I receive helps me to be able to get out of the house and do things. If I don’t have that money anymore, I’m worried that I won’t be able to go out.
It’s already hard enough for people with disabilities to find work and if they have less money, it will make it even harder to look for a job or go to interviews. People with disabilities are already fighting so hard in their communities to find work and the Government should be helping them instead of taking money away.
-ENDS-
For further information, please contact the Mencap press office on 020 7696 5414 or media@mencap.org.uk or for out of hours 07770 656 659.
About Mencap
There are 1.4 million people with a learning disability in the UK. Mencap works to support people with a learning disability, their families and carers by fighting to change laws, improve services and access to
education
Education is when you learn things. When you fill in a form to get a job, education means you write where you went to school, college or university.
, employment and
leisure
Leisure is when you have time to do things you enjoy like playing sports or going to the pub.
facilities. Mencap supports thousands of people with a learning disability to live their lives the way they want.
For advice and information about learning disability and Mencap services in your area, contact Mencap Direct on 0808 808 1111 (9am-5pm, Monday-Friday) or email help@mencap.org.uk
What is a learning disability?
A learning disability is a reduced intellectual ability which can cause problems with everyday tasks – for example shopping and cooking, or travelling to new places – which affects someone for their whole life.
People with a learning disability can take longer to learn new things and may need support to develop new skills, understand difficult information and engage with other people. The level of support someone needs is different with every individual. For example, someone with a severe learning disability might need much more support with daily tasks than someone with a mild learning disability.
Learning disability is not a mental illness or a learning difficulty. Very often the term ‘learning difficulty’ is wrongly used interchangeably with ‘learning disability’.