Wendy Dennis of Helping Hands Domestic Care Ltd has filed a petition with Parliament which has been approved and made live on the Parliamentary petitions web site.
Domestic Home Help Services supplied to elderly and disabled people which enables them to remain in their own homes safely and comfortably have to be subject to VAT if personal care is not required also.
Most elderly and disabled people really struggle with doing things like changing their beds, laundry, cleaning their kitchen and bathrooms, vacuuming and meal preparation etc. They really can’t manage these chores themselves and have to pay for the service if they can afford it.
The 20% VAT on the service which gets paid straight to HMRC can make it unaffordable for elderly and disabled people living of their pensions and possibly attendance allowance.
With an ever increasing elderly population and the Government being stretched financially – it would be considered sensible and practical to make domestic help for elderly and disabled people who want to remain in their own homes VAT exempt.
Most of these individuals have paid tax all their lives and then have to pay a tax on something they really need to enable them to remain at home.
We all know elderly or disabled people whether they be friends, relatives or acquaintances who might benefit form saving money by not having to pay VAT on these much needed services. Also we might all be old and frail one day!
Signing this petition in support of VAT exemption may make a change for now and in the future for these vulnerable groups of people
It might also be worth pointing out that the online petition can only be signed if you have an e mail address so elderly people who very often have not used computers or have internet and IT skills are immediately discriminated against even though this particular petition is very relevant to them !!
PLEASE CLICK ON THE LINK AND SUPPORT THIS CHANGE IN LEGISLATION BY SIGNING THE PETITION
If you could also share this link with anybody else you feel might consider it a worthy petition it would be appreciated.