Leader of the Welsh Conservatives and Clwyd West MS Darren Millar has called on the Welsh Government to take action to mitigate the impact of National Insurance increases on organisations providing public services in Wales.
Raising the matter in the Welsh Parliament, Darren warned that with many public services contracted out for others to deliver, such as social care and waste collections, the UK Labour Government’s National Insurance increases could put these “critically important services” at risk.
Questioning the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, he said:
“There’s a big problem here, isn’t there, Cabinet Secretary, and that is that many public services are actually contracted out for others to deliver rather than being directly delivered by people who are employed by the public sector.
“We already know that the cost to the public sector of its directly employed employees is in the hundreds of millions of pounds. And we know that it’s likely that it’s hundreds of millions more that will be required in order to support those other organisations that are delivering critically important services—public services like people working in care homes, domiciliary care, individuals who might be collecting waste from the kerbside, filling potholes, providing home-to-school transport for people.
“What assurances have you had from the UK Government that the costs associated with providing those public services, as a result of the additional employer national insurance contributions, will be met by your colleagues in the UK Treasury to make sure that those services can continue to be provided unhindered?”
Responding, the Cabinet Secretary said;
“The confirmation we’ve had from the UK Government is that the Chancellor will use the Office for National Statistics definition of 'public sector employees' when she provides money to public services to enable them to meet the costs of additional employer national insurance contributions. Now, of course, Darren Millar is right that that definition does not capture some of the organisations to which he has made reference. And, as I’ve explained previously, I cannot release money that comes to Wales for investment in our public services in order to meet a bill that has not been created here in Wales.”
Speaking afterwards, Darren said:
“The point I raised is a real concern across Wales and it is disappointing that the Cabinet Secretary for Finance was unable to provide any assurances.”
