The money will initially go towards shifting a Covid backlog in the NHS, before gradually being moved into the social care system over the next three years.

However, Nadra Ahmed, the chairman of the National Care Association, said she had seen “no evidence” that the tax rise would benefit the sector in any meaningful way.

“The Government shouldn’t call this tax the Social Care Levy because it isn’t about fixing social care,” she told The Telegraph. “The money will be going to the NHS, simple as that. And the tax has been heaped upon care homes on top of all the other pressures facing the sector.”

NHS employers will be exempt from the National Insurance rise, but care providers will be expected to pay.

Lucy Bull, the manager of the Castle Grove Nursing Home in Devon, said that the funding needed to be for the “care sector as a whole”.

“We are working really hard to raise the salaries for our care workers – taxing even more is not going to help that,” she told the BBC. 

“The cost of personal care – it’s extremely expensive and it’s just going up. It’s not just the same as deciding you’re going to charge a bit more for a cup of coffee. For most relatives and residents, there’s a finite pot of money.”