Wes Streeting has hinted at extra cash for GPs and hospices who face being hit by the Budget’s rise in national insurance.
The Health Secretary said there would be no formal exemption for the rise coming in April, but he was “looking very carefully” at funding allocations from Westminster.
He promised an announcement on hospices before Christmas while for GPs, who have warned they could be forced to cut services or close surgeries, Mr Streeting said he “recognised the pressures” they were facing.
While public sector organisations like the NHS will be protected from the impact of the tax hike on employers, hospices and GP surgeries face uncertainty.
We're asking @wesstreeting for a commitment to protect GP practices from the unfair and potentially devastating financial burden of increased employer NI Contributions. Read the full letter here 👇 pic.twitter.com/zCIgxUVinc
— General Practice (@BMA_GP) November 12, 2024
The British Medical Association has warned that GP practices could be forced to cut staff and services, impacting on patient care, while some surgeries may have to close as a result of the increased costs imposed in the Budget.
Mr Streeting told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “There are some providers of NHS services like GPs and others who are not formally part of the NHS.
“They’re contracted, they’re effectively private businesses providing a public service, so they’re not automatically exempt from employer national insurance contributions.”
He added: “We’re not doing a formal exemption but I recognise the pressures, and I want to deal with them.”
On hospices, he told BBC Radio 4’s Today they also will not be exempt but “one of the reasons that I haven’t yet announced the allocation for hospices is I’m looking very carefully at what we can do through the hospice grant to recognise that pressure”.
He added: “We’ll make an announcement on the hospice grant before Christmas because I recognise that people need to be able to make decisions about the next financial year, but the hospice grant will continue.”
But he defended the decision to increase employers’ national insurance contributions, saying that allowed the Government to “be able to invest in our NHS as well as our other public services”.
During Prime Minister’s Questions, Liberal Democrat MP Christine Jardine asked how GPs and charities are expected to cope with the rise, to which Sir Keir Starmer replied: “We will ensure that GP practices have the resources that we need, and the funding arrangements between the NHS and contractors will be set out in the usual way.”
Liberal Democrats health spokeswoman Helen Morgan said: “We need urgent clarity on what extra funding hospices will receive and whether it will fully cover the cost of the national insurance tax hike.
“Many hospices are already on the brink and this tax hike risks pushing them over the edge.
“The simplest thing would be for the government to listen to hospices and exempt them from this tax rise.”
