Boris’s £12bn care plan breaks vow
BORIS Johnson broke an election promise as he announced a £12 billion a year tax raid to address the funding crisis in health and social care.
The Prime Minister insisted the new health and social care levy, based on a 1.25 percentage point increase in National Insurance contributions, was “the reasonable and the fair approach”.
Downing Street said that a typical basic rate taxpayer earning £24,100 would pay £180 a year, while a higher rate taxpayer on £67,100 would pay £715 as a result of the new tax.
As well as providing extra funding for the NHS to deal with the backlog of cases built up during the Covid-19 pandemic, the new package of £36 billion over three years will also reform the way adult social care in England is funded.
A new cap of £86,000 on lifetime care costs from October 2023 will protect people from the “catastrophic fear of losing everything”.
The Government will fully cover the cost of care for those with assets under £20,000, and contribute to the cost of care for those with assets between £20,000 and £100,000.
Currently anyone with assets worth more than £23,250 has to fund their care in full.
Mr Johnson entered Downing Street in 2019 claiming he had a clear plan to fix the social care crisis and the manifesto which helped secure his landslide election win later that year promised not to raise National Insurance.
Admitting that pledge had been scrapped, Mr Johnson said: “No Conservative government ever wants to raise taxes and I will be honest with the House, yes, I accept that this breaks a manifesto commitment, which is not something I do lightly.
“But a global pandemic was in no-one’s manifesto and I think the people of this country understands that in their bones and they can see the enormous steps this Government and the Treasury have taken.
“After all the extraordinary actions that have been taken to protect lives and livelihoods over the last 18 months, this is the right, the reasonable and the fair approach.”
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will receive an additional £2.2 billion in additional health and social care spending from the levy.
In addition to the health and social care levy, there will also be a 1.25 percentage point increase in the dividend tax to ensure those who receive their income from shares also contribute.
Initially, main rate National Insurance contributions will increase by 1.25 percentage points from 12% to 13.25% from April 2022 as systems are updated.
From 2023, the health and social care levy element will then be separated out and the exact amount employees pay will be visible on their pay slips.
It will be paid by all working adults, including those over the state pension age, unlike other National Insurance contributions.