National insurance hike to fund social care faces accusations of 'intergenerational raid'

Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Chancellor Rishi Sunak are close to agreeing a hike to National Insurance contributions (NICs) by at least 1 percentage point to raise billions to pay for social care, according to reports. Such a policy would see Tory manifesto pledges broken that promised not to raise NICs, VAT or income tax in this parliament. The crisis in social care has long been talked about, but steps are yet to be taken to address the funding gap. One government source told The Sun that a hike to NICs was the only way to fill the £7bn blackhole in elderly care provision.   ...