WE’LL PAY MORE TO CARE FOR THE ELDERLY
Worried Brits would fork out extra in tax to ensure old are looked after properly
THE majority of Brits would pay more tax to ensure the elderly are properly cared for, a Mirror poll has found.
Years of Tory underfunding means thousands are denied help. But a 1p in the pound tax hike could raise £4.6billion.
One supporter said: “I’d happily pay more to help those less fortunate.”
SOCIAL care is crumbling thanks to Tory austerity, but research suggests it does not have to be that way.
Polling for the Daily Mirror reveals 56% would pay extra National Insurance for “more and better social care” and 54% would stump up more in income tax.
Such is the state of the system, some 74% of the 2,000 adults polled by ComRes were also concerned about the likely level of care they would receive should they need it.
Taxpayer Suzanne Walker, 38, an NHS worker of Redcar, Teesside, agreed those who are in a position to pay more should help. She said: “I would happily pay a bit more if it meant those less fortunate would not struggle as much.”56%
It comes after the Mirror launched its Fair Care For All campaign as Tories starve councils of
Proportion of people cash. They provide surveyed who would pay social care for the more National Insurance elderly, disabled or to fund social care sick, in residential homes and home help.
State funding for care has fallen by 27% since 2010. This has left 400,000 fewer people getting support as councils tightened eligibility criteria. In England, anyone with savings or assets above £23,250 has to pay for longterm care costs and some end up having to sell their homes.
The average bill per person totals £25,000 and the funding gap is set to hit £3.5billion by 2025.
But Chancellor Philip Hammond pledged only an extra £650million in his Budget.
Hiking income tax by 1p in the pound would raise an estimated £4.6billion.
As well as the lack of funding, the system is under pressure from the ageing population and rising cases of dementia.
Sally Copley, of the Alzheimer’s Society, said: “Even by 2021 we’ll be looking at a shortfall of 30,000 care home places.
“We can’t rely on families to plug the gap.”
DIGNITY should not be down to how much you can afford to pay or a local authority postcode lottery when every vulnerable, disabled and elderly person in this country is entitled to first-class social care.
Collectively or individually, or a combination of both, we urgently need to create a properly funded system guaranteeing quality help.
The issue is selfish and selfless when even able bodies are only an accident or illness away from disability, and we all want to grow old.
Our poll finding that 56% support a modest increase in National Insurance to finance social care is clear evidence the public is ahead of a Conservative Government paralysed by indecision and an austerity ideology.
Constant painful cuts to council funding are the enemy of dignity. The Mirror’s Care for All campaign is about standing up for everybody. People are on our side, not the Government’s.