Social care: PM to unveil overhaul of sector in England

Boris Johnson will vow to end “catastrophic costs” for social care users in England, when he sets out long-awaited reform proposals later.

The prime minister will announce the plans to MPs, alongside long-term funding arrangements to help the NHS respond to the Covid pandemic.

He is expected to breach election promises and raise National Insurance by about 1.25% to cover the costs.

Some Tory MPs and Labour have said this is the wrong way to raise the money.

The PM is due to present his plans to the cabinet on Tuesday morning, before setting out the details in a statement to the Commons.

He will then join Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Health Secretary Sajid Javid for a press conference later in the day.

On Monday an extra £5.4bn over the next six months was announced to help the NHS in England tackle backlogs worsened by the pandemic.

Mr Johnson will tell MPs the NHS has been “put under enormous strain by the pandemic” and cannot be expected “to recover alone”.

He is expected to say the government will not “duck the tough decisions needed” to help the service and fix England’s “broken” social care system.

Downing Street said one in seven people now pays more than £100,000 for their care, and said the system can lead to “spiralling costs”.

It has been suggested that Tuesday’s announcement will also allocate cash to increase hospital capacity in England to 110% of its current level.

However, reports the prime minister will raise National Insurance (NI), a tax paid by workers and employers, to cover costs has sparked a backlash from Conservatives.

The government is expected to announce an increase in National Insurance, likely of 1.25%, to raise billions of pounds to pay for helping the NHS catch up with lost time and treatment after the pandemic, and to help improve and pay for social care in England.

I’m told the cash raised – potentially more than £12 billion – will be ring-fenced somehow, targeted initially at the health service itself then will switch to social care after three years.

Expect also promises of changes to how the system works, including limiting the amount that families have to pay for care if need it.

Read more from Laura

The party made a manifesto commitment not to raise NI, income tax or VAT during the 2019 general election.

It is widely accepted that major changes are needed to the social care system, which helps older and disabled people with day-to-day tasks such as washing, dressing, eating and medication.

According to think tank the King’s Fund, local councils received 1.9m requests for support in 2019-20, with 560,000 from working age adults and 1.4m from older people.

One cabinet minister has told the BBC a National Insurance hike was “the wrong thing to do, and the wrong way to go about it”.

Tory former chancellors Lord Hammond, Lord Clarke and Lord Lamont have all criticised the plan, while former Tory PM Sir John Major has called it “regressive”.

Mr Johnson has been under pressure to spell out his plans to overhaul the social care system, after announcing after taking office in 2019 that he had a “clear plan” to fix the “crisis” facing the sector.

Reports have suggested that the overhaul will place a limit – or “cap” – on the lifetime contributions made by individuals, with the taxpayer funding costs on top of this.

This would be a version of a plan suggested by Sir Andrew Dilnot, who advocated a £35,000 lifetime cap in 2011.

It was put into law in 2014 under the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition, but delayed and then eventually ditched under David Cameron.

His successor, Theresa May, later suggested and then abandoned a form of the proposals in 2017.

Labour says it supports extra funding for the NHS and social care, but says NI rises would hit young people and businesses and it will not support the move.

Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth said a “Tory decade of neglect” had left the care sector and the NHS unprepared for the pandemic, and a long-term overhaul was “long overdue”.

Wayne Fitzgerald, Conservative leader of Peterborough City Council, told BBC Radio 4’s The World Tonight programme that his council needed “a fix from government”.

He said that he did not think people would mind a tax if they had confidence that it was going to be used for social care.

The social care system is devolved across the four UK nations, meaning governments need to develop separate solutions.

In England, social care is generally not provided for free. Typically, only those with savings and assets worth less than £23,250 can get help from their council and there is no overall limit on costs.

Personal care, such as help with washing and dressing, is free in Scotland for those assessed by their local authority as needing it. Those in a home still have to contribute towards accommodation costs.

Some care costs are capped in Wales, and home care is free for the over-75s in Northern Ireland.