OH, isn’t it surprising how quickly the ruling elites forget about the challenges we have faced over the past two years? I am of course being sarcastic; it comes as no surprise at all.

While we are still in a pandemic, so many politicians and business leaders seem to want to gloss over the ongoing challenges. If we add to this the perfect storms of increased fuel costs, tax rises and record levels of inflation, it is not a great start to the new year for so many households across the country.

This is not the case for the elite few who have gained so much during the global pandemic. The recently published Oxfam report Inequality Kills makes for grim reading.

The 10 richest men in the world have seen their global wealth double to $1.5tn, while 163 million more people have been pushed below the poverty line. The charity is rightly calling for governments to levy taxes on capital and wealth.

It states that a one-off 99 per cent windfall tax on these so-called Covid wealth gains could pay for enough jabs to vaccinate the entire world, with plenty of money left over to provide universal healthcare and social protection in 80 countries. We won’t hold our breath on this happening anytime soon.

However, it is not all bad news. What this pandemic has done is shine a light on our public services and just how grateful our people are for this provision, from the NHS to local government and the third sector all playing a significant part in making people’s lives better — and this is despite the brutal cuts under austerity. We in local government know the invaluable work carried out by a diverse range of occupations across our workforce, before, during and after the pandemic.

When you think of the start of the pandemic all those social care staff in nursing homes and out in the community delivering the very best of care, Unison always knew we were right when we said the social care system across Britain is broken.

The pandemic has totally and utterly laid bare the failings of the system. A broken system with issues from low pay, poor training, lack of equipment, staff shortages, no re-investment in the service — only profits for so many private companies.

The Scottish National Party has committed to a social care legacy with a national care service, the form and shape as yet to be determined and results from the consultations submitted have yet to be published.

There are many concerns, but perhaps the most crucial being there appear no proposals to remove the private-profit element from care. It is this issue which Unison has been so vocal on with a recent webinar on tackling tax avoidance to pay for public services.

It highlighted the report by Public Services International and the Centre for International Corporate Tax and Accountability and Research titled “Darkness at Sunrise UK care homes: shifting profits offshore?” It looked at the tax practices of some of Britain’s biggest care home companies, which are all owned by Revera, a Canadian care home operator, concluding: “The private, for-profit care home market in Britain is dominated by private equity firms — these tax avoidance practices are not unique.”

So that old favourite scheme of using tax havens to avoid taxes on profits, results in not only profits being made from social care — but no taxes paid, due to technically legal methods. Once again, profit before people.

Our workers and their residents and clients and families in our communities deserve more. When people require care, they should receive it in an environment where there is proper investment in both the care service and those providing the care. This is an achievable goal when the public recognition of these services has increased dramatically during the pandemic.

Crucially, the politicians are aware that this issue is not going to disappear. We have an ageing population and the demand for these services is increasing year on year. Solutions to it will not be found in the private hedge funds.

Indeed, just a few days ago Unison Scotland convenor Lillian Macer wrote to First Minister Nicola Sturgeon asking her to rescind contracts to Price Waterhouse Cooper and KPMG that give them a role in designing the national care service. The letter clearly spells out that as far as Unison is concerned there should be no market mechanisms in the health and care sector.

So, back to money again. At union conferences we so often have bucket collections, but we need more than a bucket of money. As Oxfam has reported, there is an overwhelming need for an overhaul of taxation to ensure that the 99 per cent get the services they need.
 
Brenda Aitchison is a Unison local government committee member.