Social Services: Finance
The question
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the Government plans to allocate additional funding to social care organisations outside the NHS to cover proposed increases in employers national insurance contributions.
Answered by James Murray
The Budget will provide support for government departments and other public sector employers for additional Employer NICs costs. Private sector firms or charities, including social care providers, that are contracted by central or local Government will not be exempt from these changes.
This is consistent with the approach to previous Employer NICs changes, as was the case with the previous Government’s Health and Social Care Levy.
The government has protected the smallest businesses from the impact of the increase to employers’ National Insurance by increasing the Employment Allowance from £5,000 to £10,500, which means that 865,000 employers will pay no employer NICs at all next year.
The government will support local authority services through a real terms increase in core local government spending power of around 3.2%, including at least £600 million of new grant funding to support social care.
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