TUC – Tax Wealth To Fund Social Care – Don’t Raid Workers’ Pockets

The TUC has called on ministers to revise their plans to fund social care, and instead raise Capital Gains Tax to provide a long-term funding boost for social care, and to raise the pay of all care workers to at least £10 an hour.

A new report published by the union body says that increasing tax on wealth and assets would provide a much-needed cash injection for the care sector.

It cites estimates that reforming Capital Gains Tax could raise up to £17bn a year.

The TUC says the money generated would:

cover the cost of introducing a £10 an hour minimum wage for all social care staff, which the TUC estimates would cost the Treasury £230m;

potentially allow over £16bn to be invested in improving social care services across the UK.

The report argues that raising Capital Gains Tax is a much fairer way to fund social care than hiking workers’ and businesses’ national insurance contributions.

And it calls for an end to wealth and assets being taxed at a lower rate than working people’s hard-earned incomes.

The union body says that is “plain wrong” that under current tax arrangements a low-paid social care worker can pay a bigger share of their income to fund the social care system than the private equity magnate who profits from asset-stripping care homes to sell on.

Widespread support for higher pay and better conditions in social care

The TUC estimates that 580,000 social care workers – the vast majority (492,000) of whom are women – would get an immediate pay boost if ministers introduced a £10 minimum wage.

Such a move would be very popular with the public.

A new poll of working adults – carried out for the TUC by BritainThinks – shows there is widespread support for improving pay and conditions in the social care sector:

More than eight in ten (86%) say that improving working conditions for social staff will improve the quality of care services.

Six in ten (61%) workers earning £50,000 or more say they would be prepared to pay more tax to have better social care services – compared to less than a fifth (17%) who said they wouldn’t.

A similar number (83%) believe that all care workers should all be paid at least £10 per hour – including over three-quarters (77%) of workers who say they voted Conservative in the 2019 general election.

Urgent action needed to fix social care staffing crisis

Today’s report warns that urgent action is needed to tackle the staffing crisis in social care, which it describes as the “biggest challenge” facing the sector.

It highlights how, at any one time, the social care sector has approximately 122,000 vacancies with staff retention a huge issue.

The TUC says that endemic low pay and job insecurity are key reasons behind carers leaving the profession.

Analysis by the union body shows that seven out of ten care workers earn less than £10 per hour and that one in four (24% are employed on zero-hours contracts.

The TUC says the sector will continue to be plagued by staffing shortages unless ministers improve pay and conditions across the board.

A new settlement for social care

The report calls for a new settlement and vision for social care that addresses:

The need for stronger and more resilient care services that has been exposed by the coronavirus pandemic.

The undervaluing of the care workforce, and the lack of job security and dignity at work.

The understaffing of care services, and damaging impacts on stretched staff and the quality of care experienced by service users.

The TUC says that there is clear public support for more spending on social care, as well as fairer tax policies that could fund a high-quality National Care Service with decent pay and conditions for staff.