The care legacy

National Insurance dilemmas

IT IS a measure of Boris Johnson’s political weakness that he is under growing pressure to defer the 1.5 per cent hike in National Insurance – the so-called health and social care levy.

This is the landmark legislation which passed through Parliament last September after a two year wait for the ‘ready-made’ reforms that Mr Johnson promised on the day that he became PM.

They were also endorsed by every Cabinet minister at the time – including Foreign Secretary Liz Truss who is now a critic – and the very Tory MPs now calling for the policy to be halted.

Now this newspaper has every sympathy with all those affected by the cost of living crisis – even more so at a time when the Treasury is turning a blind eye to the defrauding of public funds during lockdown.

It would also be more comfortable with the levy if a greater proportion of the taxes being raised went to the social care sector immediately – this would ease the pressure on hospital beds and put the onus back on a management-heavy NHS to find efficiencies.

But there’s also every likelihood that deferring the increase in NI, notwithstanding the significant flaws in the approach, creates a ‘false economy’ and makes it harder for families to foot the bill for care costs.

And, while it is to be hoped that the Chancellor can use his Spring Statement to help families over the cost of living, the very reason that social care is proving so costly, and so difficult, to reform is because successive governments have shied away from the challenge. Is this now going to be Mr Johnson’s legacy too?