UK Government Plans Aid for Hospices Impacted by National Insurance Hike

The government is anticipated to assist UK hospices affected by the increase in national insurance.

National Insurance

In part to counteract the effects of the national insurance increase, which the industry estimates may cost £30 million a year, officials have been considering ways to increase financing for hospices and other end-of-life care through the NHS. 

Hospices were already having difficulty keeping up with the 5.5% pay increase granted to public medical employees, and the industry as a whole estimated that there would be an additional £60 million shortage. 

According to the Guardian, the government is expected to throw a financial lifeline to the hospice industry in response to concerns that end-of-life care providers may have to close as a result of the combined effects of the employers’ national insurance increase and increased wage expenses.

The next assisted dying discussion in parliament in late November is probably going to offer a chance to reevaluate hospice funding on a more fundamental level.  Legislation will examine whether to permit terminally ill patients to have assisted dying during the final six months of their life. 

The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, stated last week that it was a “matter for the NHS to allocate money to, for example, hospices as well as GP surgeries” in response to the predicament of hospices. Since 2022, the NHS’s integrated care boards have been tasked with commissioning palliative and end-of-life care; however, the industry claims that this has only been partially implemented, with two-thirds of the money still coming from the nonprofit sector.

The hospice and end-of-life industries are staying impartial in the discussion of assisted dying. It has, however, consistently cautioned that additional financing would be required to prevent end-of-life service losses following the budget. Palliative care faces several formidable obstacles. A very clear strategy for the future transformation of these services should be outlined in the new NHS long-term plan and the comprehensive expenditure review in the spring. 

The problem has become considerably more urgent and catastrophic as a result of the April rise in employer national insurance, which will cost the typical hospice several hundred thousand pounds. Within the next month or two, hospice charities will be establishing their budgets for the upcoming fiscal year.

The National Insurance raid by Reeves “will hit living standards.”

 

Barclays has warned that the tax raid by Rachel Reeves will negatively impact workers’ living standards as they bear the cost of higher national insurance premiums.

As businesses pass the cost on through lower pay increases and higher pricing, the bank’s economists predicted that a hike in employers’ National Insurance contributions would result in slower growth in real incomes. The Chancellor has maintained that the raid does not violate Labour’s promise in the manifesto to shield working families from tax increases. However, according to Barclays’ study, workers will bear the financial burden in the end.

Over the weekend, more than 200 hospitality executives wrote to the Chancellor to warn that, due to additional expenses imposed by the Budget, they will have to close locations and fire employees. Bosses from companies including JD Wetherspoon, Young’s Pubs, and The Restaurant Group, which owns Wagamama, signed the open letter, which was published by UK Hospitality.

Last week, Sainsbury’s also cautioned that it would probably have to raise prices to cover the cost of the budget. Mr. Meaning cautioned that in addition to reduced wages, hiring will be slowed by the government’s budget and Angela Rayner’s bolstering of workers’ rights.

Growth eradication

Barclays cautioned in the same note that any growth boost from Ms. Reeves’s fiscal statement would be erased by the uncertainties surrounding the budget and the possibility of a US trade war under Trump.

“Public sector consumption and investment will drive growth, while the private sector stays muted due to increased uncertainty, low consumer confidence, lower real incomes, and less favorable policy,” the bank’s analysts stated. Threats of 60 percent tariffs on Chinese imports and at least 10 percent on imports from other countries have been made by the president-elect.

 

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