Hospices, care providers and GP Practices need exemption from NI tax increase, says Chichester MP

St Wilfrid’s Hospice, which provides palliative care for residents in West Sussex and Hampshire, faces a further deficit of around £200,000 due to the government’s budget increase on employer national insurance contributions, staff told Liberal Democrat MP Jess Brown-Fuller last week.

The Chichester MP visited the Bosham-based hospice the day after the Budget announcement. She met with hospice Chief Executive Lois Howell, members of the medical team, staff and volunteers.  She also had the opportunity to meet and speak both with a patient, and a family member, both of whom praised the care and support of staff.  

The hospice provides free care for patients both in its 14-bed hospice and in patients’ homes in an area reaching from Midhurst to Bognor Regis and from Emsworth to Arundel. St Wilfrid’s has 550 staff, including full time and part time employees and volunteers, operates 12 shops and donation centres and, as a charity, depends heavily on donations.  

“St Wilfrid’s hospice provides an invaluable service in our community, and I am so grateful for the support they provide, both professionally and personally as I have friends who have been supported by St Wilfrid’s. While St Wilfrid’s is well supported by local donations, its operating costs are large and will increase further as a result of the Budget, unless an exemption is made for the proposed increase in employer NI contributions,” said Jess, adding that “hospices provide a service that isn’t replicated elsewhere.” 

Jess welcomed the government’s proposal to increase the earnings limit for Carers’s Allowance and its acknowledgement that the entire care and health sector needed additional support, something the Liberal Democrats have been campaigning for. However, the Liberal Democrat spokesperson for primary care and hospitals wondered whether the impact of the additional NI contributions on health care providers such as GP practices and hospices had been properly evaluated by the government prior to the Budget announcement. 
Her views were echoed by Toby Porter, ceo of Hospice UK, which represents the UK’s 200 hospices.

“We were pleased to hear the Health and Social Care Secretary acknowledge that the current funding for hospices is not fit for purpose. However, we are disappointed the Chancellor hasn’t immediately addressed the crisis in the hospice sector in today’s Budget,” he said, adding that “without an exemption to the rise in Employer NI contributions hospices will face even further financial burden.”