Record £36 billion investment to reform NHS and Social Care

To tackle the Covid backlogs and put the NHS on a sustainable footing, some £36 billion will be invested in the health and care system over the next three years, to ensure it has the long term resource it needs.

Patients will benefit from the biggest catch-up programme in the NHS’s history, so people no longer face excessive waits for treatment.

“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,” the government said.

From April 2022, the government will introduce a new, UK-wide 1.25 per cent 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 per cent to help fund the package.

Speaking in the House, Prime Minister, Boris Johnson said, “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.”

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