Written evidence we received from Mencap, a social care provider supporting over 4,000 people with learning difficulties, indicated that the changes to employer NICs coupled with increases in the National Living Wage, could potentially cost it an additional £18 million a year. Mencap stated that if local authorities did not receive support from central 45 Q 47 46 Letter from MHCLG to Committee, 16 April 2025 47 Q 47 48 Q 47 49 Q 47 50 Q 53 16 government, it would be forced to renegotiate and ...

Written evidence we received from Mencap, a social care provider supporting over 4,000 people with learning difficulties, indicated that the changes to employer NICs coupled with increases in the National Living Wage, could potentially cost it an additional £18 million a year. Mencap stated that if local authorities did not receive support from central 45 Q 47 46 Letter from MHCLG to Committee, 16 April 2025 47 Q 47 48 Q 47 49 Q 47 50 Q 53 16 government, it would be forced to renegotiate and potentially hand back social care contracts, affecting 60% of its services.51 The Homecare Association in its written evidence highlighted the significan Type: conclusion | Number: 20 | Response status: accepted Government response: 4.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Autumn 2025 4.2 The government disagrees with the Committee’s conclusion that there was no assessment of increases in NICs on local government. At Autumn Budget 2024, the govern