On October 30th 2024, Rachel Reeves delivered the first Labour budget for 15 years. The last one, delivered by Alistair Darling and Gordon Brown in 2009, was heavily focused on guiding the UK through the global financial crisis instigated the previous year.
A week has settled since its publication, and while there is no worldwide financial disaster to subvert, this budget was a milestone for the government and for reducing homelessness and improving mental health.
Firstly, we should highlight the key takeaways from the budget that directly influence the work of charities like FPH. It is fair to say that there are a lot of positives for the sector.
The government has committed £233 million in funding to help prevent homelessness in 2024/2025. This will take the total annual spend to £1 billion, according to the Chancellor. Moreover, social housing is another issue that has been addressed, with £500 million committed which could provide up to 5000 new affordable social homes nationwide.
In addition to these measures, Starmer and Reeves have provided more money to the NHS, with £26 million committed to the development of new mental health crisis centers, in an effort to increase urgent care options for those in need. There is also an increase to the National Living Wage and the “Get Britain Working” White Paper seeks to invest £240 million to finding innovative methods of getting people back to work. Also, days before the budget announcement, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan promised nearly £5 million in investment to support those who have previously experienced homelessness and rough sleeping.
All of this is good news. Various charities and advocates for mental health and homelessness prevention, have continuously called for government action and the first budget of the Starmer era has addressed some of the issues facing the country. The first blog on the FPH centred on the optimism a new government could bring for this sector. When you consider many of the wide-ranging issues currently facing the UK and the funding needed, it has to be described as a positive first budget for the companies who work so hard to improve mental health, prevent domestic violence and offer shelter to those in need.
There seems to be somewhat of a consensus in reactions to the budget: It is a good first step, but it is not enough to fix all of these problems.
London Councils is the collective group of local government in the region, representing all 32 boroughs and the City of London. The cross-party group states that the additional £233 million allocated to prevent homelessness will support the stability of local services as they face unprecedented demand. Claire Holland, Chair of London Councils described the support for local homelessness services as “hugely welcome” but also stressed that the outlook for borough finances is far from positive following previous Tory funding.
Renowned homelessness charity Centrepoint echoed similar sentiments. Thomas Kerridge, policy and research manager said the funding was "unlikely" to close bridge the gap between supply and demand for local authorities.
"This Budget is a positive first step towards tackling the problem. However, Westminster is still relying on short-term funding settlements that fail to meet the scale of this crisis.”
He also emphasised the need for a cross governmental homelessness strategy with a long-term plan – something many have called for in the past, including the national charity, Crisis.
In similar fashion, Duncan Shrubsole, chief executive of St Martin in the Fields Charity, also agreed that the plans set out in the budget are initially positive, emphasising his gratitude at the Chancellor recognising the crises facing the country.
“The pledge of £1 billion from next year towards the Household Support Fund and Discretionary Housing Payments are steps in the right direction. These funds will be important in preventing people from losing their homes, as well as support others into housing. The commitment to building more social homes, with an additional allocation of £500m, is an essential step in tackling homelessness.”
Shrubsole is pleased to see the issue taken seriously, however he did note that to make a sizeable impact, more social rented homes should also be built every year to significantly bring down the numbers of those in temporary accommodation.
The consensus of a good first step with more to do continues in this regard. In response to the budget, Dr Sarah Hughes, Chief Executive of Mind, said the budget offered “glimmers of hope for mental health” but it did not allow for the changes needed to make a “mentally healthier” UK.
In a similar vein, Andy Bell, chief executive at Centre for Mental Health welcomed some of the announcement and also pointed to the need for a long-term approach and additional resources.
He said: “Mental health in the UK has been in decline over recent years. Some of today’s announcements offer hope that we may see it turn around during this Parliament, but the short-term outlook remains worrying and leaves a lot to be done to build a mentally healthier nation.”
As mentioned, there appears to be a widespread agreement in response to the budget. Most comments vaguely say the same thing: We are taking a positive step in the right direction but there ismso much more to do.
With this in mind, we are happy with the pledges outlined by the government. Significant sums of money have been allocated to addressing the issues of mental health and homelessness in particular. It goes without saying that additional resources and funding need to be pledged in addressing the crises facing the nation, however we are a nation facing countless issues that could be described as crises at this time. It is naïve to expect one budget to address and fix the issues of mental health, suicide prevention, substance abuse and homelessness. It is a positive first budget, let’s hope we see continued commitment in the next one.