How will social care in England be funded?

There is increasing concern about the funding of social care in England, on the back of Liz Truss's government scrapping the health and social care levy.

Boris Johnson proposed the health and social care levy in September 2021. The levy was to be a 1.25% tax on earnings for employees, the self-employed and employers - just like the existing National Insurance scheme. The levy was forecast to raise gross revenue of £18.4bn in 2023.

This was an important part of Johnson's promise to 'fix the crisis in social care once and for all', alongside a cap on the amount that an individual has to pay for their care - which (so far) is still set to happen in October 2023.

However, the levy was one of the first initiatives scrapped by the new Prime Minister Liz Truss.

Local authorities (councils) provide adult social care in England and the Local Government Association claim that an immediate cash injection of £13 billion is needed to remove current pressures - Adult social care position statement.

How the inevitable gap in funding that will open up once the cap is introduced will be closed is an unanswered question. The County Councils Network are urging the government to delay the cap and sort out exactly how the shortfall will be funded - Councils call for delay to flagship social care reforms, warning services face a ‘perfect storm’ of financial and workforce pressures over the next 12 months

To read about the human cost of the adult social care funding crisis, this article from the BBC - Social care: 'Jo's care will cost £1.5k a week - the system is broken' explains one family's story.

This excellent video from The King's Fund, explains how adult social care is currently funded.