Fury at plan to tax workers over 40 to pay for social care

PLANS for an “age tax” on middleaged workers to help tackle the social care crisis, came under fire last night.

All workers over 40 would be hit by the tax, under government plans.

Ministers say the proposals are overdue and similar to a system in Germany which has already been backed by an alliance of MPs. There, it is 2.5 per cent of wages. The plan, which is expected to be unveiled before the new year, involves payouts to the elderly and disabled to enable them to pay carers who might include family members.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said he was attracted to the idea put forward by Commons select committees in the summer.

He said: “I am impressed by the work of the select committees who have come up with a model that is adapted from what was introduced about 20 years ago in Germany and it appears to be working.”

Unfair

Dr Sarah Wollaston, the Tory chairman of the Commons Health Committee, one of the two panels that proposed the scheme, said it was intended to avoid putting an “unfair” burden on “working-age young, employed adults”.

She added: “It has to be compulsory otherwise it wouldn’t be done.”

But former pensions minister and Tory peer Baroness Altmann warned: “Trying to fund social care by taxing pensioners who are working would be utterly unfair.

“There is going to be a lot of resistance to this.

“Many of these people are only working because their pensions are so low they cannot make ends meet.

“There is no simple solution to this but we really need to spread the provision of care rather than compulsory taxation for one group of people.”

Last night, Age UK’s charity director Caroline Abrahams said: “Care in England is in an awful mess and we can’t go on as we are. Too many older people are being badly let down and are, frankly, being neglected at the most vulnerable time in their lives.

“It is vital we change this but that’s going to cost a lot of money, because we should have done it years ago and the problem has got worse.

“It makes sense to learn from other countries that have already grasped the nettle. German citizens think it’s worth it for the security they receive in return.”

AT LAST we have a suggestion on what to do about the social care crisis. The so-called age tax will sound unpalatable to many – especially the over-40s who may have to pay it – but then no solution is ever going to be easy to swallow.

The longer we take to grasp the nettle, the worse the situation will get.

The system seems to be working in Germany where it is the middle-aged and older who pay the tax but it is they who most appreciate the security of knowing their social care will be funded if they require it.

We need more detail, of course, but if this is the big idea then let’s get on with it and make it work.

The massive issue of how we provide the social care needed by more and more people – and how we pay for it – is a problem that just won’t wait.