Budget tax rise a 'hammer blow' - hospice boss

Chris Wheway, of St Barnabas Hospice in Lincoln, says the service it offers will have to change

A hospice chief executive has warned a cut in services was likely following this week's Budget.

Chris Wheway, of St Barnabas Hospice in Lincoln, said changes to National Insurance and the minimum wage were "very shocking" and "a hammer blow".

He said the hospice, which provided palliative and end-of-life care, would face increasing costs of more than £1.5m over the next five years.

A government spokesperson said "tough decisions" had to be taken to deliver a £22bn boost for the NHS and social care in the Budget.

Employers will bear the brunt of the £40bn in tax rises unveiled on Wednesday by Chancellor Rachel Reeves - the biggest increase in a generation.

Their National Insurance costs will increase and the threshold at which they begin to pay it has been lowered.

Reeves said the measures were needed to plug what she had described as a £22bn "black hole" in the nation's finances she inherited from the Conservatives and to invest in the NHS and other public services.

The legal minimum wage will also rise from April next year.

The NHS and the rest of the public sector are exempt from the tax rise, but that does not cover hospices which provide NHS services.

'Incredibly challenging'

Mr Wheway said it would cost an estimated £350,000 of the charity's annual budget of £13.5m.

"That's on top of what was already an incredibly challenging funding and budget time for our hospice," he said.

It was "inevitable something will have to change" in what the hospice could offer without extra income, Mr Wheway said.

"I'm sure it's the same for all charities who will be frantically looking at this and wondering how on earth they will manage it."

Responding, a government spokesperson said: “We have taken tough decisions to fix the foundations so a £22bn boost for the NHS and social care could be announced at the Budget.

“The employer National Insurance rise doesn’t kick in until April, and we will set out further details on allocation of funding for next year in due course.”

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