Ministers mull national insurance rise to fund social care

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

57% : Increasing national insurance by 1p for employees and the self-employed would raise around £6 billion a year, according to calculations by the Resolution Foundation.
57% : Hunt said removing the cap was a possibility, but said "soaring council tax bills to pay for social care" would affect public support.
57% : "The attraction of a health and social care levy is it would fund the NHS backlog in the short term and desperately needed improvements in the social care system in the medium-longer term," Hunt tweeted.
55% : "A health and care premium is the most honest solution, with a sensible debate on whether we'll fund the new dementia drugs on the way, make our cancer survival rates as good as Denmark/Australia - and proper social care - and
52% : Hunt, who chairs the health select committee, said there was "a growing realisation that with the Covid backlog we'll never get the NHS back on its feet without social care reform".
48% : The Treasury has traditionally opposed hypothecated taxes, where tax rises are announced with the revenue determined for a specific department, but Sunak is said to be reconciled to branding any rise destined to tackle social care.
47% : The prime minister declined to reassert the pledge not to raise income tax or national insurance when asked about plans for tax hikes at the Downing Street press conference on Monday.
45% : It's a tax disproportionately loaded on to younger and lower-paid workers, compared to a fairer rise in income tax.
42% : Ministers are considering a national insurance rise - described as a social care and health levy - in order to overhaul the UK's social care system, as Boris Johnson refused to recommit to the Tory manifesto promise not to raise taxes.
36% : He said removing the exemption for pensioners to pay national insurance would be unpopular and only raise half a billion pounds a year.
33% : One source close to the discussions said putting the increase on national insurance would put the government at risk of accusations that it was putting a penalty on younger working people and particularly low earners.

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