What to expect from the Social Care Levy…

From Wednesday 6 April, the first ever dedicated Health and Social Care Levy will begin to raise billions to help tackle COVID backlogs and reform services in the UK.

?Over the next 3 years, a record ￡36 billion will be invested in the health and social care system to ensure it has the long-term resource it needs while working to reduce patient waiting times and speed up diagnoses.

?Following on from this, The Government have said they are hoping to achieve:

• Up to 160 community diagnostic centres by 2025, including the 73 that are currently already open. These centres have already delivered over 700,000 additional CT, MRI, ultrasound, endoscopy, and ultrasound tests, with around 30,000 tests a week.
• From 6 April the Health and Social Care Levy will begin raising billions to tackle COVID backlogs and reform services
• ￡36 billion over the next 3 years will put health and care services on a sustainable footing

The levy will also reform our social care system, backed by ￡5.4 billion. It will end the cruel lottery of social care costs, provide a limit to the cost of care for everyone in the adult social care system for the first time, and significantly increase state support. It will also invest ￡500 million into the social care workforce. The reform will ensure that people receive the care they need no matter their background and that they will be supported to have better choice, control and independence over their care. To ensure everyone contributes fairly, all working adults, including those over the state pension age from April 2023, will pay the levy and the rates of dividend tax will also increase by 1.25% to help fund this package, as discussed in last week's communications e-mail.

?Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak said:

?"Investing in health and social care is a top priority for this government, and it is right that we fund that investment in a responsible and sustainable way. The money raised by the levy will enable us to deliver improved services for patients, cut waiting times and make social care funding more fair – all part of a better system for health and social care."