Labour may raise NI to help the elderly

Published on Saturday 4 July 2009 19:54

LABOUR is considering raising National Insurance contributions to pay for a minimum level of care for the elderly, it has emerged.

The UK government is exploring the measure to fund a care guarantee that would end the "post code lottery" that sees the elderly in different parts of the country receive differing standards of treatment.

Ministers are expected to outline their plans in a Green Paper to be published this week at Westminster. The expansion of "social care" is to be one of the key themes of Labour's General Election manifesto.

Labour in Scotland introduced its own free care for the elderly policy shortly after devolution. But under the current constitutional settlement, a hike in National Insurance would affect people across the UK as the tax is reserved to Westminster.

The favoured option is introducing a rise in National Insurance, similar to the one Gordon Brown introduced as Chancellor in 2002 which gave the health budget a boost. Workers would be expected to pay into a national social care pool with higher earners being expected to pay more than those on lower incomes.

Yesterday, Andy Burnham, the Health Secretary, revealed that the government's goal was to extend the principles of NHS social care so that people could enjoy a "basic entitlement".

"It is a major personal priority to me to put ideas on the table about how to make social care much fairer. There is real unfairness about how we provide it, which is a major concern for people. We need to ensure that there is not so much local variation. There is a real need for bold ideas to transform the quality and fairness of the system."

The Green Paper will talk of the need for a "fairer, simpler and more affordable" system that is fit for an ageing population.