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Updated September 9th, 2021 at 09:48 IST

UK PM Boris Johnson wins Commons vote on social care, health tax hike

Responsible, fair, and necessary action is taken to provide the biggest catch-up programme in the history of NHS, the Boris Johnson-led administration said.

Reported by: Zaini Majeed
United Kingdom
IMAGE: AP | Image:self
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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday, 8 September won the Commons vote in favour of the Health and Social Care Levy to hike taxation in order to fund the NHS and elderly social care in the UK. The MPs passed the law with 319 votes to 248 votes in support of the 1.25 percentage point rise in National Insurance for workers and employers to raise the funding for the care of the older UK population, and health-related expenditure during the COVID-19 pandemic. Johnson’s tax hike, which broke the Conservative manifesto pledge, is expected to fetch the government £12bn a year, enabling the administration to deal with "catastrophic costs" incurred to those elderly that need social care but would otherwise have to sell their home in order to pay. 

At the House of Commons debate ahead of the vote, one of the Conservative MPs also raised objections to the proposal. At least five Conservative MPs, Sir Christopher Chope, Philip Davies, Neil Hudson, Esther McVey and John Redwood, voted against the measure. However, thirty-seven Conservative MPs abstained from voting. The Labour party called for a Wealth Tax rather than a 1.25 per cent levy in an amendment to the UK Prime Minister’s proposal which was later rejected in the Commons.

£36 million funding for innovation, technology

The Boris Johnson administration said that it will spend close to £36 million on the innovation and technology related to the social care fund. The UK Prime Minister pledged to tackle NHS COVID backlogs and cut waiting times with a new £36 billion investment over the next three years, to ensure that the health and care system has the long term resource it needs.

“Responsible, fair, and necessary action is taken to provide biggest catch-up programme in the history of the NHS and reform the adult social care system,” the administration said in a release on Thursday. “Successive governments have failed to provide a long-term solution for social care. The system will finally be reformed, ending unpredictable and catastrophic care costs faced by thousands, and making the system fairer for all,” it added. 

As per the law, effective from April 2022, the UK government will introduce a new, nationwide 1.25 percent Health and Social Care Levy, ringfenced for health and social care. This will be based on National Insurance contributions (NICs) and from 2023 will be legislatively separate. “To ensure everyone contributes fairly, all working adults, including those over the state pension age, will pay the levy and the rates of dividend tax will also increase by 1.25 percent to help fund this package,” the UK Government stated. It further added that those young workers who earn more—pay more, with the highest-earning 14 percent of people paying around half the revenues. A healthy workforce and a tax-payer funded health service will channel  £12 billion in extra funding per year for the NHS. 

The number of elderly patients waiting for elective surgery and routine treatment in England has hit a record high of 5.5 million. This could reach 13 million by the end of the year, the UK government warned, adding that the NHS needs to be able to offer more appointments, operations, and treatments. The new funding is expected to finance an extra 9 million checks, scans, and operations, and accelerate the implementation of UK NHS’ long term plan committed to increasing activity year on year.

“You can’t fix the Covid backlogs without giving the NHS the money it needs. You can’t fix the NHS without fixing social care, you can’t fix social care without removing the fear of losing everything to pay for it, and you can’t fix health and social care without long-term reform. The plan I am setting out today will fix all of these problems together,” UK PM Boris Johnson told the House of Commons. 

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Published September 9th, 2021 at 09:37 IST

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