Julia Lopez MP has called on Health Secretary, Wes Streeting MP, urgently to plug the £340,000 funding hole in St. Francis Hospice’s finances caused by the Chancellor’s Budget, which hiked rates of Employer National Insurance.
The rise, which was one of the largest tax-raising measures in UK history, means employers will now pay National Insurance at 15% on salaries over £5,000. The move means that Havering’s vital local hospice, St Francis, faces paying an extra £340 000 a year in tax - around what it costs to run a ward at St. Francis for eleven weeks or approximately 5,862 hours of Hospice at Home nurse visits.
Earlier this year, Mrs Lopez visited St. Francis Hospice and joined their event in parliament to mark Hospice Week in October. Following discussions with St. Francis CEO Grazina Berry, Mrs Lopez wrote to the Health Secretary calling for the Government to look at addressing funding challenges faced by hospices, giving them financial stability on a more long-term basis.
Currently the hospice receives 69% of its funding from charitable sources such as fundraising efforts by the general public. Only 31% of its funding comes directly from the Government.
Commenting Mrs Lopez said:
“The Budget has created a right mess, and it’s one entirely of this new Government’s own making. Not only is it affecting Havering’s businesses, high streets, nurseries and GPs, it is causing eyewatering problems for our local hospice.
“It’s vital that the Health Secretary provides the funding which hospices like St. Francis need to cover this shortfall. However, I’m deeply sceptical that the Government will step in to bridge the gap in full.
“The one clear message which St. Francis have given me during our discussions is that they need financial stability and certainty to be able to plan for the future. £340k is a huge amount of money for an organisation like St. Francis to shoulder, and without the funding from Government, I’m worried this will impact the services they can provide – to the detriment of so many families during their most difficult times.”
