On 12^th December you will have the chance to cast your vote in the General Election. This election will decide who will get to run the country for the next five years. Whichever party wins will be empowered to make decisions that could affect your employment, education, healthcare, housing and much more. We strongly encourage you to cast your vote.

If you want to find out more about each political party, you can find the links below to their manifestos. We have also included snapshots of the key issues that will affect you, including some commitments each party makes in regards to the care system. We have done this in order of the number of MPs held by each party in the last Parliament.

Snapshot of the Conservative Party Manifesto

Employment – We not only want to freeze taxes, but to cut them too. We will raise the National Insurance threshold to £9,500 next year – representing a tax cut for 31 million workers.

Education – We will look at the interest rates on loan repayments with a view to reducing the burden of debt on students.

Healthcare – Between 2018 and 2023, we will have raised funding for the NHS by 29 per cent. By the end of the Parliament, that will be more than £650 million extra a week.

Housing – We will bring in a Better Deal for Renters, including abolishing ‘no fault’ evictions and only requiring one ‘lifetime’ deposit which moves with the tenant.

The Care System – Children who end up in care are more likely to struggle as adults, denied the love and stability most of us take for granted. We will prioritise stable, loving placements for those children – adoption where possible or foster parents recruited by the local authority. We will review the care system to make sure that all care placements and settings are providing children and young adults with the support they need.

A strong society needs strong families. We will improve the Troubled Families programme and champion Family Hubs to serve vulnerable families with the intensive, integrated support they need to care for children – from the early years and throughout their lives.

Read their full manifesto here.

Snapshot of the Labour Party Manifesto

Employment – Targeted bursaries will be available to women, BAME people, care leavers, ex-armed forces personnel, and people with disabilities to encourage them to take up climate apprenticeships – the STEM of the future.

Education – Labour will end the failed free-market experiment in higher education, abolish tuition fees and bring back maintenance grants.

Healthcare – We’ll expand our NHS to offer free prescriptions for all and free basic dentistry, building on its founding principles.

Housing – Labour will deliver a new social housebuilding programme of more than a million homes over a decade, with council housing at its heart.

The Care System – Labour will launch a wholesale review of the care system, including kinship care, considering national standards such as a central register of foster parents and regulation of semi-supported housing, to ensure we meet the needs of every child.

We will rebuild early intervention services and replace the Troubled Families programme with a Stronger Families programme, refocused on long-term support to reduce the risk of children going into care.

We will protect and build on Staying Put for over-18s in care and the Adoption Support Fund.

Read their full manifesto here.

Snapshot of the Liberal Democrats Manifesto

Employment – A Liberal Democrat government will set up a new Skills Wallet for every adult, giving people £10,000 to spend on approved education and training courses to gain the right skills for the jobs of the future.

Education – Invest an extra £1 billion in Further Education funding, including by refunding colleges for the VAT they pay.

Healthcare – Raising £7 billion a year in additional revenue by putting 1p on Income Tax, with this money to be ring-fenced for spending on the NHS and social care.

Housing – Build at least 100,000 homes for social rent each year and ensure that total housebuilding increases to 300,000 each year.

Read their full manifesto here.

Snapshot of the Green Party Manifesto

Employment – The Green New Deal will transform our social welfare system by phasing in a Universal Basic Income (UBI), an unconditional financial payment to everyone at a level above their subsistence needs.

Education – Fully fund every higher education student and scrap undergraduate tuition fees.

Healthcare – Increase funding for the NHS by at least £6 billion per year each year, until 2030 (a 4.5% increase on the 2018/2019 NHS Budget), and a further £1 billion a year in nursing higher education, allowing for nursing bursaries to be reinstated.

Housing – We will end the housing crisis by creating enough affordable homes – including 100,000 new council homes a year.

The Care System – Support councils to extend staying put arrangements, to enable fostered young people to stay with foster parents until they are 21.

Read their full manifesto here.

Snapshot of the Brexit Party Manifesto

Employment – We want to attract investment and jobs with a series of targeted incentives to drive growth and increase the tax take.

Education – Scrap interest on student loans, which will improve the debt recovery rate, and introduce a new workable apprenticeship scheme.

Healthcare – The NHS must remain a publically-owned, comprehensive service that is free at the point of use. Your postcode should not determine your care or health.

Housing – We need to simplify the planning and development processes to encourage small and medium sized developers, accelerating the pace of development to increase housing supply.

Read their full manifesto here.

You will need to go to your local polling station between 7am-10pm on Thursday 12^th December to vote.

If you would like to discuss anything about the general election further please email Rory on rory@driveforwardfoundation.org.