NHS set for £30bn boost in Labour spending review – as other departments feel the squeeze
Keir Starmer’s government will announce the spending review next week (Image: undefined via Getty Images)
Keir Starmer is set to give the NHS a £30billion boost in next week’s spending review – at the expense of other struggling public services.
The Department of Health and Social Care is expected to be the biggest winner of the government’s latest financial manoeuvres – but a rise in the health service’s budget will mean services such as police forces and local councils will feel the squeeze even more tightly.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves will hand the NHS the biggest settlement of any public service, with its daily budget expected to rise by 2.8% every year for the next three years in a cash boost worth around £30billion by 2028, The Times reported tonight.
However, Healthcare chiefs are already concerned the investment may not be enough to meet the Prime Minister’s. key targets of bringing down waiting times and moving care out of hospitals and into communities.
No.10 has pledged to have 92% of all patients treated within 18 weeks by the next election. Currently less than 60% meet that target.
Rachel Reeves and Keir Starmer look set to gamble on the NHS in next week’s spending review (Image: undefined via Getty Images)
And with waiting lists unexpectedly rising last month to 7.4million, NHS bosses remain doubtful they will hit the government’s interim goal of 65% by next year.
The move to prioritise health is rumoured to have already led to a number of inter-departmental rows within Whitehall.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves will deliver her first full Spending Review next week, outlining how much each Government department will receive through to the end of the decade.
The review, which will take place on Wednesday, June 11, will set both day-to-day budgets – covering salaries and services like the NHS – and capital investment in long-term infrastructure, such as schools, hospitals and transport.
It follows the interim 2025–26 budget allocations Ms Reeves announced last October during her Autumn Budget. However, the fiscal outlook is tight. Borrowing rose to £20.2billion in April, £1billion higher than the same month last year, due to rising welfare and debt costs – despite increased tax revenue from employer National Insurance Contributions.
Ms Reeves must also comply with the Government’s two self-imposed key fiscal rules that daily spending is funded by tax revenue, not borrowing, and that debt falls as a share of national income by 2029/30.
Current forecasts project a slim £9.9billion surplus – the third-smallest on record – which leaves little room for unexpected shocks.
That limited “headroom” already shrank earlier this year due to sluggish growth and higher debt interest, prompting Ms Reeves to announce £14billion in savings, including £4.8billion in welfare cuts
State pensioners claiming before this date can get extra £5,496 from DWP
Eligible pensioners over 80 can boost their State Pension payments (Image: Getty)
State pensioners who started claiming their pension before one specific date can add up to £5,496.40 extra per year to their State Pension pot by making one application.
Eligible retirees with either a basic State Pension of less than £105.70 per week, or no basic State Pension at all, can claim an ‘over 80 pension’ from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). If you are a man born before April 6, 1951, or a woman born before April 6, 1953, then you’ll get the basic State Pension, which is now worth up to £176.45 per week if you get the full rate. This is thanks to a 4.1% uprating from April 7, which increased weekly payments from the previous rate of £169.50.
To get the full weekly payment, men born between 1945 and 1951 usually need 30 qualifying years of National Insurance (NI), or 44 qualifying years if you were born before 1945. By comparison, women born between 1950 and 1953 usually need 30 qualifying years, and those born before 1950 need 39 years.
Read More: State Pension age change for anyone born after 1977
So if you have less than the full number of qualifying NI years then your State Pension payments will be less than £176.45 per week.
But the good news is that if your State Pension payments are less than £105.70 per week – and you’re aged 80 or over – then you can top up your weekly earnings by claiming the over 80 pension from the DWP.
The DWP says those who reached State Pension age on or after April 6, 2016, cannot get the over 80 pension, so if you started claiming the pension payouts from the DWP after this date you won’t be eligible to claim the extra money.
If you’re eligible, the amount you’ll get will depend on how much basic State Pension you get – if any – but if you’re getting less than £105.70 weekly, then you could get the difference paid up to this amount.
The DWP says an 80 year old who gets £43 per week basic State Pension, for example, would get an extra £62.70 to top up their weekly amount to £105.70. So over a year, this would add up to £5,496.40 extra to your pension.
You must have been a UK resident for at least 10 years out of a 20 year period, which must include the day before you turned 80 or any day after, or you were ‘ordinarily resident’ in the UK, the Isle of Man or Gibraltar on your 80th birthday, or the date you submitted your claim for the over 80 pension.
Unlike the basic and new State Pension schemes, your eligibility for the over 80 pension isn’t based on National Insurance contributions. Claimants should also note that the over 80 pension counts as taxable income, so if you’re claiming any other benefits these could be affected.
You can apply for the scheme by requesting a claim form from your local Jobcentre Plus, or by calling the Pension Service on 0800 731 7898. The earliest you can submit a claim is up to three months before your 80th birthday, or any time after.
