Representative body Independent Care Group (ICG) has urged the UK government to scrap VAT on care providers paying for goods and services to ease the sector’s financial burden amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The ICG has written to Chancellor Rishi Sunak calling on him to find a way to financially support providers by making care zero-rated for VAT.
At the moment care providers face the anomaly of paying VAT for goods and services but being unable to charge VAT themselves to offset some of those costs.
ICG chairman Mike Padgham said: “Social care has been under-funded and under-recognised for generations. We are short of staff and short of resources.”
He added: “We failed to repair the roof when the sun was shining and now we are facing the consequences in a sector that is ill-equipped to cope with a pandemic like this.”
The calls for financial support came as the ICG said nursing and care homes are ill-equipped for killer virus.
A lack of personal protective equipment and testing are hampering efforts to cope, said Padgham.
“Unless the government recognises that care and nursing homes are as vital in the fight against coronavirus as hospitals we are just not going to be able to cope,” he added.
“The government has forgotten about social care providers – not just during this pandemic but for generations – and now we are becoming a new frontline in the fight against coronavirus, that neglect is putting the workforce and the people we care for at unacceptable risk.”
