NI for pensioners 'would raise £500m a year'
Government confirms figure following debate over paying for elderly care
AROUND £500m would be raised in 2011/12 if pensioners were required to pay National Insurance contributions, the government has said.
In a parliamentary answer on 9 September, Financial secretary to the Treasury Mark Hoban (pictured) revealed the £500m figure, which was based on the 2007-08 Survey of Personal Incomes and economic assumptions made by the Office for Budget Responsibility. It also takes into account behavioural changes, Hoban said.
The question, asked by Conservative MP Penny Mordaunt, was in response to the Dilnot Report, which looked at how to fund care for elderly people. The Age UK charity suggested asking pensioners to pay NI.
A spokesman for Mordaunt said: “Charging OAPs NIC has been mooted as a means of funding care, and in the context of the Dilnot Report it is interesting to know the sums that could be raised through such a measure.”
