Recommendation 7

We do not accept the Government’s position that care providers should not be compensated for employer National Insurance Contributions in relation to the Health and Social Care Levy simply because they are, on the whole, private businesses. We heard again and again that there should be parity of esteem between the NHS and social care. Compensating the “health” component of the “Health and Social Care Levy” because it is a public sector employer while not doing so for the “social care” component only serves to reinforce the strongly felt notion that social care is the poor relation of the NHS. It also introduces unfairness between public and private care providers. The additional cost to private providers will make it harder for them to increase wages. This may lead to more care workers leaving the sector, many for jobs in the NHS. Furthermore, it is a perverse logic that care providers should have to undergo further financial strain by paying a tax that is supposed to be helping to relieve their financial strain. Since the Health and Social Care Levy is supposed to benefit both health and social care, private care providers should be compensated for employer National Insurance Contributions to the Health and Social Care Levy. (Paragraph 41) Changing reforms