WHERE WILL NEW MONEY GO?

The Government has increased NI contributions as we discussed last week, and with changes to dividend taxation will raise £36 billion over three years.

Of this, £5.4 billion has been ringfenced for adult social care; the remainder is to tackle the backlog in elective healthcare that built up over the course of the pandemic.

Thant sounds OK for social care, and excellent for the NHS.

However, things are not as good as they seem.

The £5.4 billion allocated to social care is to implement reforms: £3.6 billion is for the charging reforms, i.e. changes to the way people pay for their care, and £1.7 billion is for sector reforms outlined in the People at the Heart of Care White Paper.

NONE OF IT IS FOR CURRENT COST PRESSURES.

So if you were expecting that local authorities would suddenly increase the amount they pay for care, think again.