Downing Street has recently announced a 1.25% rise in the National Insurance Contributions (NIC) rate – effecting employees, the self-employed as well as employers – as a means of funding social care. The Government’s intentions to support additional funding into social care are welcome but more is required around raising awareness of who pays for care, plus solutions for increased private funding.
It’s well-known that the care crisis requires eye-watering sums of money to fix, and some form of taxation is needed to foot this high bill. While an increase in National Insurance should raise significant extra funds for social care, it is not clear that it will raise enough to meet costs for social care, as well as making contribution to additional COVID-19 costs on the NHS as well as the numerous wider reforms announced.
The harsh reality is that most older people in the UK requiring long-term social care will need to pay for some or all of it themselves, and exactly how much care costs, varies from person to person. When the need for long-term care arises, most people have very little idea of where to start and responsibility for arranging care often falls to the children of those who need it.
The current care system is also complex with many moving parts, including care needs and care means tests. On top of dealing with the complexity, there’s often difficult emotional conversations to be had about a parent’s changing care needs and whether to receive care in the home or move to a dedicated care facility.
So, it’s important for people to do their homework and familiarise themselves with what support is available both at the point of need and on an ongoing basis, as their own or their parent’s requirements develop with time.
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