This mini-budget was about jobs: protecting them, supporting them, and creating them. This included a welcome proposal for a new ‘Kickstart Scheme’ to create thousands of work placements for people aged 16 – 24.
However, many of the chancellor’s proposals were short-term or surface-level interventions reliant on the country being able to consume its way out of crisis. A plan placed on consumption is one that does not reflect the challenges faced by the most marginalised and disadvantaged people in our communities. Challenges like a broken care system, rising rates of in-work poverty, under-investment in community infrastructure and a house building crisis.
ACEVO was one of a number of charities that wrote to the chancellor outlining a five-point plan to unlock billions to deliver social good. Danny Kruger’s upcoming civil society review and the Autumn Budget still provide an opportunity for the government to demonstrate its commitment to investing in communities and civil society so that we can build back better together.
