I can’t promise hospices will be OK after national insurance raid, admits health minister
A minister has said she cannot promise hospices are going to be “OK” after Rachel Reeves launched a national insurance raid that will affect thousands of charities.
Karin Smyth, a health minister, was asked during an interview on Sky News’s Politics Hub with Sophy Ridge if she could give any reassurances over the future of hospices but she replied: “I can’t promise.”
The Government has been warned by hospices that some facilities could be forced to shut because they will not be able to afford the increase in employer contributions, which are due to rise from 13.8 per cent to 15 per cent of workers’ salaries.
Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary, has ruled out making hospices exempt but suggested they could be given more funding to help mitigate the increase, with an announcement due to be made before Christmas.
Ms Ridge asked if the Government was likely to do something to help hospices at risk of closure.
Ms Smyth replied: “You are absolutely right, they are a lifeline for so many people and it is important that they are supported and, as the Health Secretary has said, we are obviously looking at that. He hopes to be able to announce any further measures on that before Christmas.”
.@SophyRidgeSky: "Can you just promise hospices are going to be ok?"@karinsmyth: "I can't promise that now."
Health Minister Karin Smith on the impact of the rise in employers' national insurance contributions on hospices#PoliticsHub https://t.co/GlTNastFii
📺 Sky 501 pic.twitter.com/kiVmKzvMIl— Politics Hub with Sophy Ridge (@SkyPoliticsHub) November 13, 2024
Ms Ridge then asked: “Can you just promise hospices that they are going to be OK?”
Ms Smyth replied: “I can’t promise that now. I can’t promise. I can’t promise exactly what that will look like now.
“We know they are an important part of the landscape of care for people, we know that is true of GPs and primary care.
“We know this Budget is really difficult; the population knows that. The Chancellor has had to make some really difficult choices to get the economy back on track and to make sure that we do have public services that do survive.”
Stephen Flynn, the Westminster leader of the SNP, posted on X, formerly Twitter: “I wonder if Labour are still feeling quite so confident about their choices now.”
The public sector will be shielded from the national insurance increase but hospices and some other healthcare settings such as GP surgeries will be hit because they are not formally part of the NHS.
Hospices are primarily charity-funded and independently run but they do receive some statutory funding from the NHS and central government.
Mr Streeting signalled on Thursday that hospices could be given more funding to cope with the National Insurance increase.
He told the BBC: “There won’t be an exemption in that way but one of the reasons that I haven’t yet announced the allocation for hospices is [that] I am looking very carefully at what we can do through the hospice grant to recognise that pressure and also recognise the underlying challenge … about the balance of state and statutory funding versus charitable contributions.”