Asked by: David Morris (Conservative - Morecambe and Lunesdale)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of the 1.5 per cent increase in employer national insurance contributions on care home operators; and whether he has plans to exempt the care sector from that increase.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
The increase to Employer National Insurance contributions by 1.25 percentage points is expected to raise £975 million per year from employers carrying out health and social care activities. The Government cannot break this down to show the cost to care home operators.
The Government has made the tough but responsible choice to increase taxes to fund a significant increase in permanent spending on the NHS and social care. There are no plans to exempt the care sector from the National Insurance increase.
On the 7 September the Government announced that we would be investing an additional £5.4 billion over the next three years using the funds raised by the levy to begin a comprehensive programme of reform for adult social care. Additionally, local authorities can make use of over £1 billion of additional resource specifically for social care in 2022-23. This includes £636 million more into the Social Care Grant, including funding for equalisation against the 1 per cent Adult Social Care (ASC) precept, an inflationary uplift to the improved Better Care Fund to support integrated working with the NHS, and a 1 per cent ASC precept and deferred flexibilities from last year's settlement.
Asked by: David Morris (Conservative - Morecambe and Lunesdale)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to exempt care homes from paying VAT on works carried out to their premises.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
VAT is a broad-based tax on consumption and the 20 per cent standard rate applies to the vast majority of goods and services. While there are exceptions to the standard rate, these have always been strictly limited by both legal and fiscal considerations.
One such exception is a reduced rate of VAT at 5 per cent, subject to certain conditions, for residential renovations, such as building services and materials. This includes conversions of buildings from one residential use to another, conversions from commercial to residential use, and the renovation of properties that have been empty for two years or more prior to the renovation work.
Another exception is applied to the installation in residential accommodation, including housing association accommodation and care homes, of various energy saving materials (ESMs), such as insulation and draught stripping. At Spring Statement 2022, the Chancellor announced that installations of ESMs will now be zero rated from 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2027 in Great Britain. He also announced the removal of complex qualifying criteria. Further information can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/changes-to-the-vat-treatment-of-the-installation-of-energy-saving-materials-in-in-great-britain/the-value-added-tax-installation-of-energy-saving-materials-order-2022.
Expanding the reliefs further would come at a significant cost to the public finances. For example, introducing a reduced rate of VAT on all renovations and repairs to residential properties would cost around £3.75 billion per year. Such costs would have to be balanced by increased taxes elsewhere, increased borrowing or reductions in Government spending. However, the Government keeps all taxes under review.
Asked by: David Morris (Conservative - Morecambe and Lunesdale)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the annual cost to the public purse of the cash-in-hand economy in the private domestic repair, maintenance and improvement sector in the construction industry.
Answered by Mel Stride - Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
HMRC does not measure how much of the tax gap is specifically linked to cash. Cash plays a part in supporting the hidden economy and evasion. These behaviours consistently account for roughly 25% of the tax gap.
If anyone is aware of instances of a business or employer using cash to evade tax they can report this to HMRC; online or by phone.