St Luke's Hospice warns £130,000 national insurance costs will mean 'reduction in services'

ITV News' Lauren Ostridge spoke to the staff and volunteers at St Luke's Hospice about the tax rise and what it means for them.

Hospice bosses have warned they'll need to find an additional £130,000 a year to cover the rise in employer's national insurance contributions introduced in the Labour budget.

St Luke's Hospice in Winsford provides end-of-life care to elderly and terminally ill patients, and relies almost entirely on public donations to stay open.

On Wednesday 30 October, Rachel Reeves announced an increase to national insurance employer contributions by 1.2 percentage points to 15%, which will come into effect from April 2025.

While the NHS and the rest of the public sector are exempt from the tax hike, private care homes and hospices like St Luke's will soon be paying £130,000 more in national insurance a year.

The hospices Chief Executive Neil Wright said: "It puts pressure on the service. Normally when prices go up with inflation, you can pass those on to your customers, but we don't charge out patients. Our special care is delivered for free, so any increases we have to deal with ourselves."

St Luke's Chief Executive Neil Wright warns they'll soon be facing an extra £130,000 in costs every year.

Without further funding, the tax hike could result in St Luke's have to reduce the number of services they offer.

It means they would no longer be able to help people like Vera Rodger's husband Joe.

Vera said: "My husband was in for a month and they were absolutely fantastic. They used to have him singing and I just can't put into words how good they were."

Joe came into St Luke's with cancer in 2020. Due to the COVID-19 restrictions Vera wasn't able to visit, but thanks to the hospice staff he was able to return to his home and spend his last few weeks with his wife before his death.

Vera's husband spent time in St Luke's shortly before his death.

Vera said: "He had the choice of going to the hospital or going to St Luke's, and I'm so glad he chose here.

"This is a part of Winsford, people would be lost without it but they don't always get the credit for it."

Since her husband passed away, Vera has been fundraising for the hospice and was shocked to hear how the Government's plans could affect St Luke's.

She said: "I'm disgusted with the Labour Government. [St Luke] needs every penny they can get and the carers deserve medals.

"Anyone I know who has been through St Luke's has been full of praise for all of them."

St Luke's provides end of life care in Winsford.

Despite providing NHS services, St Luke's receives just 15% of its funding from the Government and relies on public donations to stay open.

Neil said: "We have a duty to balance income and expenditure, and this extra £130,000 is on top of a minimum wage increase. It puts a lot of strain on the finances.

"There could be a point where we have to reduce services."

Neil argues that not only does the Government's tax hike put St Luke's future in jeopardy, but will also make Labour's promise to "build an NHS fit for the future."

He said: "We as a charity see the services that are not being provided, and we try to provide those services.

"Our patients come from hospital, or from home, and we stop them from going back into hospital that works alongside the NHS.

"It's end of life care, and everybody is going to die. So we need to be funded correctly."

Responding to worries from hospices and GPs, the Health Secretary Wes Streeting said he was looking into ways to support those affected by the latest tax hikes.

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