Boris Johnson will address lawmakers on his plans to fix Britain's 'broken' social care system
September 7, 2021, 3:49 am

Boris Johnson will address lawmakers on his plans to fix Britain's 'broken' social care system

UK PM-Boris

The Todayonline reported according to Reuters, Prime Minister Boris Johnson will address lawmakers on Tuesday on his plans to fix Britain's "broken" social care system, at a time many in his own party are furious that he wants to pay for it by raising taxes, violating an election pledge.

For years, British leaders have been trying to find a way to pay for social care without endangering support by hiking taxes. In 2019, Johnson said he had a plan for social care.

Under the current care system, anyone with assets over 23,350 pounds ($32,305) pays for their care in full. This can lead to spiralling costs and the complete liquidation of someone's assets.

Costs in Britain are set to soar as the population ages.

Johnson will say in a speech to parliament, according to extracts released by his office: "We must act now to ensure the health and care system has the long term funding it needs to continue fighting COVID and start tackling the backlogs, and end the injustice of catastrophic costs for social care."

"My government will not duck the tough decisions needed to get NHS (National Health Service) patients the treatment they need and to fix our broken social care system."

The extracts did not detail financing plans, but British media have reported that Johnson wants to raise the National Insurance (NI) tax paid by working people to subsidise care for pensioners, including wealthy retirees.

Read more: UK largest social care union demands ministers to stop ‘no jab, no job’ rule

Many lawmakers from Johnson's Conservative Party worry this will hurt younger, low-income workers and breach his 2019 election guarantee not to raise the rate of NI.

The government said on Monday it will set aside a further 5.4 billion pounds ($7.5 billion) over the next six months to help the NHS cover additional costs from the COVID-19 pandemic and to tackle a huge treatment backlog.

Johnson, finance minister Rishi Sunak and health minister Sajid Javid will follow the statement to parliament with a press conference on Tuesday afternoon, Johnson's office added.

Source: todayonline

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BENEFIT, the Kingdom’s innovator and leading company in Fintech and electronic financial transactions service, has sponsored the BuildHer CityHack 2025 Hackathon, a two-day event spearheaded by the College of Engineering and Technology at the Royal University for Women (RUW).
Aimed at secondary school students, the event brought together a distinguished group of academic professionals and technology experts to mentor and inspire young participants.
More than 100 high school students from across the Kingdom of Bahrain took part in the hackathon, which featured an intensive programme of training workshops and hands-on sessions. These activities were tailored to enhance participants’ critical thinking, collaborative problem-solving, and team-building capabilities, while also encouraging the development of practical and sustainable solutions to contemporary challenges using modern technological tools.
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Professor Riyadh Yousif Hamzah, President of the Royal University for Women, commented: “This initiative reflects our commitment to advancing women in STEM fields. We're cultivating a generation of creative, solution-driven female leaders who will drive national development. Our partnership with BENEFIT exemplifies the powerful synergy between academia and private sector in supporting educational innovation.”
Hanan Abdulla Hasan, Senior Manager, PR & Communication at BENEFIT, said: “We are honoured to collaborate with RUW in supporting this remarkable technology-focused event. It highlights our commitment to social responsibility, and our ongoing efforts to enhance the digital and innovation capabilities of young Bahraini women and foster their ability to harness technological tools in the service of a smarter, more sustainable future.”
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