Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what revenue funding his Department will provide to adult hospices in England in 2026/27; and when that funding will be confirmed.

Whilst the majority of palliative care and end-of-life care is provided by National Health Service staff and services, we recognise the vital part that voluntary sector organisations, including hospices, also play in providing support to people at the end of life and their loved ones.

Palliative care services are included in the list of services an integrated care board (ICB) must commission. The statutory guidance states that ICBs must work to ensure that there is sufficient provision of care services to meet the needs of their local populations, which can include hospice services available within the ICB catchment.

Most hospices are charitable, independent organisations which receive some statutory funding for providing NHS services. The amount of funding each charitable hospice receives varies both within and between ICB areas. This will vary depending on demand in that ICB area but will also be dependent on the totality and type of palliative and end of life care provision from both NHS and non-NHS services, including charitable hospices, within each ICB area.

We recognise the difficult financial situation that many hospices are facing due to a range of concurrent cost pressures. That is why we have supported the sector with a £125 million capital funding boost for adult and children’s hospices to ensure they have the best physical environment for care. We are also providing approximately £80 million of revenue funding for children and young people’s hospices over three financial years, from 2026/27 to 2028/29 inclusive, giving them the stability they need to plan ahead.

The Government is developing a Modern Service Framework for Palliative Care and End‑of‑Life Care. An interim update has now been published in the form of a Written Ministerial Statement, with the full report due to be published in Autumn 2026.

In the interim update, we set out that we expect all ICBs to complete an integrated needs assessment, to gain a detailed understanding of their current and future population, including people of all ages with palliative care and end-of-life care needs. We are asking ICBs to move to sustainable contracting of adult, and children and young people’s, hospice services, based on their integrated needs assessment. Initially, this will involve the move away from short-term grant funding for adult hospice services from 2027/28.