As we repair the damage of the pandemic, we need to protect our NHS and address the problems in social care that successive governments have ducked for decades.
That is why we have announced a new £36 billion package – funded by a UK wide 1.25 per cent ringfenced Health and Social Care Levy – that will help to tackle NHS backlogs, reform adult social care, and bring the health and social care system together on a sustainable footing.
Over the next three years, this will fund the biggest catch up programme in NHS history, providing an extra 9 million checks, scans, and operations; and increase NHS capacity to 110 per cent of its pre-pandemic levels by 2023-24. Without this additional funding, waiting lists would be projected to grow to around 13 million as patients who deferred seeking help during the pandemic come forward.
And where successive Governments have failed, we are introducing a new long term solution for social care, ending the unpredictable and catastrophic care costs faced by thousands.
- Introducing a cost cap of £86,000 over a lifetime, applying irrespective of where you live, how old you are, how much you earn, or your health condition.
- Covering all care costs for anyone with assets with under £20,000.
- Increasing the threshold above which the state stops support from £23,500 to £100,000, meaning anyone with assets between £20,000 to £100,000 will receive state contributions.
We are also taking steps to bring the NHS and social care system in England closer together – with an integration plan to be brought forward later this year.
These steps are responsible, necessary and fair – giving our health and care services the backing and funding they need to build back better from the pandemic.