National Insurance increase hits NHS and care staff with £900m tax bills | the health

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The Guardian has revealed that Boris Johnson’s increase in National Insurance to fund health and social care will hit NHS staff and care workers with a £900m tax bill.

The Prime Minister announced this month that contributions would increase by 1.25 percentage points to tackle the NHS backlog and pay for social care changes.

Now, an official analysis of the impact of the tax increase, by the House of Commons Library, shows it will inflict “terrible” financial losses on health and social care workers and their families.

The report reveals they will pay 12% of the £7.4 billion expected to be raised from employees through the tax increase. According to the analysis, nurses, care home staff and other health and social care workers will pay an additional £900m in tax.

The figures do not include those who work for the NHS or are self-employed, which means the real impact is likely to be greater.

Millions of health and care workers are already facing strains on their finances. Charities have warned that a combination of higher prices for energy and consumer goods, along with interest cuts, is adding hundreds of pounds to household costs.

The Bank of England said on Thursday that inflation is expected to pick up in the short term, forecasting it to move “a little above 4%” in the fourth quarter of 2021.

The Liberal Democrats, who requested the analysis, said the findings revealed the fact that the government was launching a “tax raid on the NHS and care home heroes” who were still risking their lives on the front lines of the pandemic.

An average nurse or midwife will see her tax bill rise by £310, care home workers will have to pay at least £140 and ambulance staff will experience an increase of £420. On average, 1.4 million NHS staff will have to pay an extra £315 a year, according to a Library of Commons report.

Liberal Democrats spokeswoman Mounira Wilson, health spokeswoman, said: “The promise made by Boris Johnson in his official statement amounts to a £900m tax raid on NHS champions and care homes.

“These are the nurses, ambulance drivers and care workers who have worked day in and day out to save lives on the front lines of the pandemic. Now their reward is being hit by a tax bill worth hundreds of pounds, at a time when incomes are shrinking due to the cost of living crisis.

Conservatives should rethink this unfair tax increase that will disproportionately affect low- and middle-income people. Their plans may exacerbate the employment crisis in care homes rather than fix it.”

Christina McNea, general secretary of Unison, Britain’s largest health union, said punishing key workers with an increase in national insurance was an appalling way of treating those “who have done so much to care for people and save lives in the past 18 months”.

“Inflation has outpaced the NHS wage increase,” she said. “Most of the care staff have had none at all. The ruthless hijacking of universal credit has yet to be carried out. And those same key workers will be pushed through the nose when [national insurance contributions] Increase strikes.

McAnea said the NHS and the social care sector could see thousands resign as a result. “No one can blame care and NHS staff for jumping ship for more lucrative and less stressful jobs,” she said. “But the consequences of losing thousands of experienced workers are simply unbelievable.”

Responding to the Library of Commons analysis, the chair of the Royal College of Nursing Council, Carol Poppleston, said: “Getting primarily into the pockets of hard-working health care workers who already feel taken for granted, which could lead to further exit, is the opposite. settlement.

“The prime minister needs to put in place a credible plan to offset years of underinvestment and put money into services that patients will rely on for years to come, and the people who provide them.”

A Treasury spokesperson said: “The Health and Social Care Tax will raise £12 billion a year for the NHS and social care. Everyone is asked to contribute in a fair and progressive way.

We have supported social care workers throughout the pandemic. The lowest wage earner has benefited from the increase in the national living wage, and we are investing half a billion pounds to provide training and support for adult social care workers as part of the package announced this month.”

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