The Chancellor of the Exchequer gave his Spring Budget to Parliament on 8 March 2017.

“On International Women’s Day this was a budget where women featured but still didn’t significantly gain. Many of the structural barriers to women in work and making work pay for women were not addressed.”

“£2 billion for social care is welcome but the crisis is such that it is only a third of what is needed by 2020. The continuing failure to properly fund social care hits women hardest. There has to be a more sustainable strategic solution or the system will never escape from crisis. Carers UK have calculated 58% of unpaid carers are women and their work is worth £77bn a year.”

“Investment in apprenticeships is vital and very welcome, but so is ensuring more women and girls move into higher paying science, technology, engineering and maths subjects – including older women and returners. We are still wasting the talent of thousands of women and girls.”

“It was also welcome to see £20 million extra for violence against women and girls services, but there was no additional funding for childcare and no reversal of universal credit cuts which penalise single parents.”

“£5 million to mark 100 years of women’s votes in 2018 is also very welcome. We need to ensure young women and men know their suffrage history and the relevance of that struggle to tackling discrimination, harassment, and inequality that women and girls experience today.”