The Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, has delivered the new Autumn Budget and Spending Review 2021, announcing the UK Government’s tax and spending priorities over the next few years. 

While the Budget looks at plans for how the Government will spend money over the coming months, the Spending Review gives a longer-term review of its spending plans, including how much will be given to Government departments and public services until 2025, the end of this Parliament. 

What we think 

We’re pleased that there will be more money for the NHS and long-term funding for social care, which will help many autistic people and families. But we’re worried about the lack of immediate funding for social care and will be following this up with the Government. 

The Spending Review did not specifically set out how the new autism strategy for England will be funded, beyond its first year. We urge the Government to tell autistic people and families how they will use the money announced to meet the important commitments they made in the autism strategy. We will continue to call on the Government to properly fund the promises made in the five-year strategy, over the next four years and beyond. 

Key Announcements  

Adult social care 

• The Government previously announced a significant increase in funding for social care in England back in September, something we, autistic people and families had long been calling for.  
• £1.7bn will be provided over three years to improve the wider social care system, with at least £500m from the previously-announced Health and Social Care Levy to go towards improving the skills, qualifications and wellbeing of the social care workforce. 
• English councils will be provided with £1.6bn of new funding for social care in each of the next three years, on top of funding for social care reform.  

We’re still concerned that we’ll need to wait three years to see all the funding for social care in place. We also hope that funding to local authorities will start to ensure they have what they need to provide older and disabled people with the social care they need.  

Healthcare 

• £2bn will be provided to improve services for identifying health needs, including setting up at least 100 community diagnostic services across England. 
• £8bn from the Health and Social Care Levy will go towards tackling the backlog in appointments for elective, or non-emergency, appointments. 
• The Government also commits to creating 50 million more appointments in primary care over the Spending Review period up until 2025. 

It is promising to see more funding commitments for healthcare in general. But it’s crucial that money is also spent on the commitments made in the autism strategy, such as to improve diagnosis waiting times. 

Education/Children’s social care 

• £2.2bn of new funding will be provided over the next three years for new school places for children with special educational needs and disabilities. 
• £201m to transform Start for Life and create a network of Family Hubs to provide early support.  
• £259m will be provided over the Spending Review period to maintain capacity in and expand secure and open residential children’s homes. 

We share the concerns raised by the Disabled Children’s Partnership, of which we are a member, that there’s no dedicated new funding for disabled children’s health and social care. It’s also vital that the additional funding for family hubs has the capacity to meet the needs of autistic children and their families to ensure they have the vital support they need. 

Mental health 

• £300m of funding by 2024-25 will help to complete the Government’s programme to replace over 1,200 beds in mental health dormitories across more than 50 sites with new single, en suite rooms. 
• A new budget of £150m will be invested in NHS mental health facilities linked to A&E and helping to enhance patient safety in mental health units.  

This investment in NHS mental health facilities is vital. We continue to campaign to end the scandal of too many autistic people in inpatient units. 

Employment for disabled people 

•  The Government says it will build on its Plan for Jobs, providing more than £6bn over the Spending Review period to improve access to employment. 
• This includes £339m per year for the continued funding of existing disability employment programmes, such as the Access to Work scheme and the Work and Health programme. 
• An additional £156m will be used to provide job finding support for disabled people, with a focus on more work coaches. 

We welcome these announcements, but data published by the Office of National Statistics earlier this year suggests that just 22% of autistic adults are in any kind of employment. These new efforts must reach autistic people. 

Nations 

The Budget and Spending Review also sets out funding for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Each nation’s government will decide how this is spent. Funding will rise by an average of £4.6bn for Scottish Government, £2.5bn for Welsh Government, and £1.6bn for Northern Ireland Executive.  

Our comment 

Tim Nicholls, Head of Policy, Public Affairs and Research Partnerships at the National Autistic Society said: “This Budget and Spending Review announced more money being provided to the NHS and long-term funding for social care. Whilst this is good, we’re worried about the lack of immediate funding for social care. It’s crucial that the money that has been announced covers the commitments made in the new autism strategy for England. 

“We welcomed many of the autism strategy’s commitments, but for this to be a truly successful five-year strategy it is critical that the Government provides the appropriate funding for the next four years and beyond, as soon as possible. We will continue to call for this to make sure the Government provides autistic people and their families with the vital support they need.” 

You can read the Autumn Budget and Spending Review 2021 documents in full here.