Mini-budget and the areas that impact you. Key points relating to healthcare:
- Employer National Insurance (NI) contributions and dividends tax will be cancelled, as will the interim NI tax increase for this year, with effect from 6 November 2022.
- The health and social care levy was confirmed as being cancelled.
- Additional funding for the NHS and social care will be maintained at the same level.
- From 23 April, the additional rate of income tax will be abolished, to instead have a single higher rate of income tax of 40 per cent.
- Basic income tax rate will be cut to 19 pence in April 2023.
- The government is taking action to make it easier to settle industrial disputes by ensuring meaningful employer pay offers are put to employees. Unions must put pay offers to a member vote, so that industrial action can only be called once negotiations have ‘genuinely broken down.’
- An energy bill relief scheme will reduce wholesale gas and electricity prices for all UK business, charities and public sector organisations, including hospitals.
The scheme will provide a price guarantee equivalent to the one announced for households. Nursing and healthcare leaders have called out the chancellor for overlooking NHS and social care priorities in favour of tax cuts for the highest earners and lifting the cap on bankers’ bonuses. Concerns have also been raised by unions around Mr Kwarteng’s comments on strike action and trade unions. No extra funding was announced for the NHS or social care, despite warnings from health leaders earlier this week.