Plans to reform health and social care in England.

Here’s a recap of what Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced this afternoon, under plans to reform health and social care in England.

Why are taxes being raised?

• To “properly fund the NHS as we recover from the pandemic” and address the backlog of treatments.
• To “create an expended safety net without borrowing more money”.
• To fund the Governments vision for the future of health and social care, funding nurses pay rises and investing in more modern equipment.

What has the PM announced?

• A health and social care tax will be introduced across the UK to pay for reforms to the care sector and NHS funding in England.
• The PM says this will raise £36bn for frontline services over the next three years – the “biggest catch-up programme in the NHS’s history”.
• The tax will begin as a 1.25% rise in National Insurance from April 2022 and a tax on share dividends will also go up by 1.25%.
• It will become a separate tax on earned income from 2023.
• No-one will have to pay more than £86,000 for care across their lifetime, while anyone with less than £20,000 of assets will get free care.
• People with less than £100,000 of assets will see their care costs subsidised.
• Boris Johnson accepted the plan broke a Conservative manifesto pledge, but said the “global pandemic was in no one’s manifesto”.
• Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer called the plan a “sticking plaster”.

What’s next

Boris Johnson’s social care plan was signed off by ministers at a Cabinet meeting earlier on Tuesday after days of fury from Tory backbenchers and MPs will vote on the proposals on Wednesday 8th September.

“As a result, while waiting lists will get worse before they get better, the NHS will aim to be treating around 30% more elective patients by 2024-2025 than before COVID,” the PM said.

Further tax hikes are not ruled out and Boris Johnson said he can only provide “emotional commitment” to not add more taxes during his government.