London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Nov 14, 2025

‘Illogical’: frontline health and care staff react to funding plan

‘Illogical’: frontline health and care staff react to funding plan

Boris Johnson announced that £36bn raised by tax increase would go ‘straight to frontline’

Boris Johnson announced in parliament that £36bn raised by the new 1.25 percentage points tax rise would “go straight to the frontline” of health and social care. We asked some of them – doctors, care workers, managers and families of people in care homes – for their reaction.

The consultant


Dr Richard Breeze, an intensive care consultant in London, said that “superficially [the new funds] sound wonderful and one hopes it’s a genuine investment in the NHS”. But he said it was “illogical” to be raising the funds from relatively low-paid NHS staff, who would feel disincentivised as a result.

“The lifeblood of the NHS will be compromised,” he said. “Going into what looks like a third wave [of Covid] the staff are exhausted and the idea of putting their taxes up is robbing Peter to pay Paul.”

He said the threshold for paying the tax should be raised for health and social care staff to prevent the lowest paid from paying the levy.

“We are desperately short of nurses and anything that can be done to incentivise them would be priceless.”

Documents setting out details of spending showed £5.6bn extra would go to social care over three years, including some to cap lifetime care costs at £86,000. It is well short of the amounts estimated to be needed to keep up with demand.

The family member


Lesley Lightfoot – whose mother, Blumah Samuels, 90, sold her £260,000 flat to pay for £4,300-a-month care fees at the care home she has lived in for almost three years – said the lack of significant new investment in the care sector meant little change for families’ experience of lower-budget care homes.

“Families who have a property to sell will be in the same position and God help people who haven’t,” she said. “It is not going to make a difference. What needs to be addressed is the standard of care. [Care work] needs to be a proper job.”

She also said the statement lacked a “sense of urgency” with the £100,000 cap on care costs not introduced for another two years and only then for people starting care packages after October 2023.

“What is going to happen to the people still at home who need help right now?”

The care home manager


Donna Henderson, manager of two Saint Cecilia care homes in Scarborough, said much more funding was needed to tackle the staffing crisis hitting the sector now.

“Let’s try and think we are heading in the right direction,” she said, “but social care is struggling so much. We have gone through such difficult times over the last 18 months. We are doing our recruitment drives and people are not coming through. They are going to have to invest. These figures are nowhere near what we need. I find it quite disheartening at times.”

The care worker


Andrew Trehearne, who last month quit a job as a home carer in Oxford which paid just £75 for a day that would span up to 14 hours, said: “What shocked me was there’s precious little to help carers to stay in the business. This isn’t a plan, for goodness sake. The people I worked with were dedicated to the cause but this is not going to help them.”

Trehearne was one of hundreds of thousands of home care workers who often only get paid for 30 or 45 minute sessions when they are working with people in their homes, with travel time and breaks unpaid.

“There should be better pay and training but I have not seen anything like that,” he said. “We are utterly exhausted emotionally and physically.”

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
UK Upholds Firm Rules on Stablecoins to Shield Financial System
Brussels Divided as UK-EU Reset Stalls Over Budget Access
Prince Harry’s Remembrance Day Essay Expresses Strong Regret at Leaving Britain
UK Unemployment Hits 5% as Wage Growth Slows, Paving Way for Bank of England Rate Cut
Starmer Warns of Resurgent Racism in UK Politics as He Vows Child-Poverty Reforms
UK Grocery Inflation Slows to 4.7% as Supermarkets Launch Pre-Christmas Promotions
UK Government Backs the BBC amid Editing Scandal and Trump Threat of Legal Action
UK Assessment Mis-Estimated Fallout From Palestine Action Ban, Records Reveal
UK Halts Intelligence Sharing with US Amid Lethal Boat-Strike Concerns
King Charles III Leads Britain in Remembrance Sunday Tribute to War Dead
UK Retail Sales Growth Slows as Households Hold Back Ahead of Black Friday and Budget
Shell Pulls Out of Two UK Floating Wind Projects Amid Renewables Retreat
Viagogo Hit With £15 Million Tax Bill After HMRC Transfer-Pricing Inquiry
Jaguar Land Rover Cyberattack Pinches UK GDP, Bank of England Says
UK and Germany Sound Alarm on Russian-Satellite Threat to Critical Infrastructure
Former Prince Andrew Faces U.S. Congressional Request for Testimony Amid Brexit of Royal Title
BBC Director-General Tim Davie and News CEO Deborah Turness Resign Amid Editing Controversy
Tom Cruise Arrives by Helicopter at UK Scientology Fundraiser Amid Local Protests
Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson Face Fresh UK Probes Amid Royal Fallout
Mothers Link Teen Suicides to AI Chatbots in Growing Legal Battle
UK Government to Mirror Denmark’s Tough Immigration Framework in Major Policy Shift
UK Government Turns to Denmark-Style Immigration Reforms to Overhaul Border Rules
UK Chancellor Warned Against Cutting Insulation Funding as Budget Looms
UK Tenant Complaints Hit Record Levels as Rental Sector Faces Mounting Pressure
Apple to Pay Google About One Billion Dollars Annually for Gemini AI to Power Next-Generation Siri
UK Signals Major Shift as Nuclear Arms Race Looms
BBC’s « Celebrity Traitors UK » Finale Breaks Records with 11.1 Million Viewers
UK Spy Case Collapse Highlights Implications for UK-Taiwan Strategic Alignment
On the Road to the Oscars? Meghan Markle to Star in a New Film
A Vote Worth a Trillion Dollars: Elon Musk’s Defining Day
AI Researchers Claim Human-Level General Intelligence Is Already Here
President Donald Trump Challenges Nigeria with Military Options Over Alleged Christian Killings
Nancy Pelosi Finally Announces She Will Not Seek Re-Election, Signalling End of Long Congressional Career
UK Pre-Budget Blues and Rate-Cut Concerns Pile Pressure on Pound
ITV Warns of Nine-Per-Cent Drop in Q4 Advertising Revenue Amid Budget Uncertainty
National Grid Posts Slightly Stronger-Than-Expected Half-Year Profit as Regulatory Investments Drive Growth
UK Business Lobby Urges Reeves to Break Tax Pledges and Build Fiscal Headroom
UK to Launch Consultation on Stablecoin Regulation on November 10
UK Savers Rush to Withdraw Pension Cash Ahead of Budget Amid Tax-Change Fears
Massive Spoilers Emerge from MAFS UK 2025: Couple Swaps, Dating App Leaks and Reunion Bombshells
Kurdish-led Crime Network Operates UK Mini-Marts to Exploit Migrants and Sell Illicit Goods
UK Income Tax Hike Could Trigger £1 Billion Cut to Scotland’s Budget, Warns Finance Secretary
Tommy Robinson Acquitted of Terror-related Charge After Phone PIN Dispute
Boris Johnson Condemns Western Support for Hamas at Jewish Community Conference
HII Welcomes UK’s Westley Group to Strengthen AUKUS Submarine Supply Chain
Tragedy in Serbia: Coach Mladen Žižović Collapses During Match and Dies at 44
Diplo Says He Dated Katy Perry — and Justin Trudeau
Dick Cheney, Former U.S. Vice President, Dies at 84
Trump Calls Title Removal of Andrew ‘Tragic Situation’ Amid Royal Fallout
UK Bonds Rally as Chancellor Reeves Briefs Markets Ahead of November Budget
×