Asked by: Tom Tugendhat (Conservative - Tonbridge)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what funding provisions are being put in place for hospice care, in the context of rising costs of living and changing needs of the staff.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Palliative care services are included in the list of services an integrated care board (ICB) must commission. This promotes a more consistent national approach and supports commissioners in prioritising palliative care and end of life care. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and service specifications.
We understand the financial pressures faced by the hospice sector which is why we are supporting eligible adult, and children and young people’s hospices in England with a £100 million capital funding boost to ensure they have the best physical environment for care.
Additionally, we are also providing £26 million of revenue funding for children and young people’s hospices for 2025/26 and have also recently confirmed the continuation of this vital funding of at least £26 million, as it will be adjusted for inflation, each year from 2026/27 to 2028/29 inclusive. This amounts to approximately £80 million over the next three years.
On hospice staff-related costs specifically, independent organisations, such as charities and social enterprises, are free to develop and adapt their own terms and conditions of employment, including pay scales. It is for them to determine what is affordable within the financial model they operate.
In the long term, through our Modern Service Framework (MSF), we hope that, by supporting ICBs to commission more strategically, we can move away from grant and block contract models. This would be more sustainable and help hospices plan ahead.
I refer the Rt Hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement HCWS1087 I gave to the House.
Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to provide hospices with funding to raise staff pay in line with nationally agreed NHS pay rises.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The impact that National Health Service pay uplifts will have on the hospice sector will depend on the structure of the charity, including the number of employees and salary levels.
Independent organisations, such as charities and social enterprises, are free to develop and adapt their own terms and conditions of employment, including the pay scales. It is for them to determine what is affordable within the financial model they operate, and how to recoup any additional costs they face if they choose to utilise the terms and conditions of NHS staff on the Agenda for Change contract.
NHS England has issued guidance on the implementation of the 2024/25 pay awards. Providers of NHS-commissioned services should direct questions to their commissioners, their local integrated care board or NHS England regional team, on the application to their specific contract arrangements.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to provide adequate funding to hospices to increase staff pay in line with agreed NHS pay rises.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are immensely grateful for the critical role that healthcare workers, including hospice staff, play in our health service, and the high-quality, compassionate care they deliver.
The impact that National Health Service pay uplifts will have on the hospice sector will depend on the structure of the charity, including the number of employees and salary levels.
Independent organisations, such as charities and social enterprises, are free to develop and adapt their own terms and conditions of employment, including the pay scales. It is for them to determine what is affordable within the financial model they operate, and how to recoup any additional costs they face if they choose to utilise the terms and conditions of NHS staff on the Agenda for Change contract.
NHS England has issued guidance on the implementation of the 2024/25 pay awards. Providers of NHS-commissioned services should direct questions to their commissioners, either the local integrated care board (ICB) or NHS England regional team, on the application of their specific contract arrangements.
Additionally, we are supporting the hospice sector with a £100 million capital funding boost for eligible adult and children’s hospices in England to ensure they have the best physical environment for care.
We are also providing £26 million in revenue funding to support children and young people’s hospices for 2025/26. I am pleased to confirm the continuation of this vital funding for the next three financial years, from 2026/27 to 2028/29 inclusive. This funding will see approximately £26 million, adjusted for inflation, allocated to children and young people’s hospices in England each year, via their local ICBs on behalf of NHS England, as happened in 2024/25 and 2025/26. This amounts to approximately £80 million over the next three years.
Asked by: David Chadwick (Liberal Democrat - Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to ensure that hospices receive the necessary funding to increase staff pay in line with nationally agreed NHS pay scales.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are immensely grateful for the critical role healthcare workers, including hospice staff, play in our health service and the high-quality, compassionate care they deliver.
The impact that National Health Service pay uplifts will have on the hospice sector will depend on the structure of the charity, including the number of employees and salary levels.
Independent organisations, such as charities and social enterprises, are free to develop and adapt their own terms and conditions of employment, including pay scales. It is for them to determine what is affordable within the financial model they operate, and how to recoup any additional costs they face if they choose to utilise the terms and conditions of NHS staff on the Agenda for Change contract.
NHS England has issued guidance on the implementation of the 2024/25 pay awards. Providers of NHS-commissioned services should direct questions to their commissioners, from either the local integrated care board or NHS England regional team, on the application to their specific contract arrangements.
Additionally, we are supporting the hospice sector with a £100 million capital funding boost for eligible adult and children’s hospices in England to ensure they have the best physical environment for care.
We are also providing £26 million in revenue funding to support children and young people’s hospices for 2025/26. I can also now confirm the continuation of this vital funding for the three years of the next Spending Review period, from 2026/27 to 2028/29 inclusive. This funding will see approximately £26 million, adjusted for inflation, allocated to children and young people’s hospices in England each year, via their local integrated care board on behalf of NHS England, as happened in 2024/25 and 2025/26. This amounts to approximately £80 million over the next three years.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that hospices receive the required funding to increase staffing wages in line with nationally agreed NHS pay rises.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are immensely grateful for the critical role healthcare workers, including hospice staff, play in our health service and the high quality, compassionate care they deliver.
The impact that National Health Service pay uplifts will have on the hospice sector will depend on the structure of the charity, which includes the number of employees and the salary levels. Independent organisations, such as charities and social enterprises, are free to develop and adapt their own terms and conditions of employment, including the pay scales.
It is for them to determine what is affordable within the financial model they operate, and how to recoup any additional costs they face if they choose to utilise the terms and conditions of NHS staff on the Agenda for Change contract.
We are supporting the hospice sector with a £100 million capital funding boost for eligible adult and children’s hospices in England to ensure they have the best physical environment for care.
We are also providing £26 million in revenue funding to support children and young people’s hospices for 2025/26. I can also now confirm the continuation of this vital funding for the three years of the next Spending Review period, from 2026/27 to 2028/29 inclusive. This funding will see approximately £26 million, adjusted for inflation, allocated to children and young people’s hospices in England each year, via their local integrated care boards and on behalf of NHS England, as happened in 2024/25 and 2025/26. This amounts to approximately £80 million over the next three years.
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Epping Forest)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that hospices receive the funding required to raise staff pay in line with nationally agreed NHS pay rises.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are immensely grateful for the critical role healthcare workers, including hospice staff, play in our health service and the high quality, compassionate care they deliver.
The impact that National Health Service pay uplifts will have on the hospice sector will depend on the structure of the charity, which includes the number of employees and the salary levels. Independent organisations, such as charities and social enterprises, are free to develop and adapt their own terms and conditions of employment, including the pay scales.
It is for them to determine what is affordable within the financial model they operate, and how to recoup any additional costs they face if they choose to utilise the terms and conditions of NHS staff on the Agenda for Change contract.
We are supporting the hospice sector with a £100 million capital funding boost for eligible adult and children’s hospices in England to ensure they have the best physical environment for care.
We are also providing £26 million in revenue funding to support children and young people’s hospices for 2025/26. I can also now confirm the continuation of this vital funding for the three years of the next Spending Review period, from 2026/27 to 2028/29 inclusive. This funding will see approximately £26 million, adjusted for inflation, allocated to children and young people’s hospices in England each year, via their local integrated care boards and on behalf of NHS England, as happened in 2024/25 and 2025/26. This amounts to approximately £80 million over the next three years.
Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of providing an exemption for hospices and charities providing health and care services from the increase in employer National Insurance contributions.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government has protected the smallest businesses and charities from the impact of the increase to employer National Insurance by increasing the Employment Allowance from £5,000 to £10,500. That means more than half of businesses with NICs liabilities either gain or see no change this year.
The Government also provides support for charities via our tax regime, which is among the most generous of anywhere in the world, with tax reliefs for charities and their donors worth just over £6 billion for the tax year to April 2024.
Furthermore, the government is investing £100 million to improve hospice facilities, and a further £26 million revenue funding to support children and young people’s hospices this year. This is the biggest investment in hospices in a generation.
Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Merron on 23 July (HL9674), how they determine the allocation of (1) capital and (2) revenue funding to hospices in England.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The £100 million capital funding allocation for eligible adult and children’s hospices in England has been calculated by the Department, informed by Hospice UK, and is based on the care expenditure of each hospice.
Some of the organisations that are eligible for this capital funding for hospices in England are national charities, providing services across the United Kingdom. Therefore, a £5 million cap per organisation, of the total £100 million, was introduced to ensure that the Department was not indirectly funding hospice capital projects elsewhere in the UK, beyond England.
This is deemed the fairest model that can release funding to the hospice sector fastest, helping hospices to fully utilise the allocated funds, and doing so in a way which results in best value for money.
Regarding revenue funding for children’s hospices, the £26 million of revenue funding to support children and young people’s hospices for 2025/26 will be disseminated by integrated care boards on behalf of NHS England. As in previous years, individual allocations of the revenue funding have been determined using a prevalence-based model, enabling allocations to reflect local population need.
This is in line with the NHS devolution and promotes a more consistent national approach, supporting commissioners in prioritising the palliative care and end of life care needs of their local population.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of increased National Insurance contributions on voluntary sector health organisations.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
A Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN) was published alongside the introduction of the Bill containing the changes to employer National Insurance contributions (NICs). The TIIN sets out the impact of the policy on the exchequer, the economic impacts of the policy, and the impacts on individuals, businesses, and civil society organisations, as well as an overview of the equality impacts.
To support social care authorities to deliver key services, in light of pressures, the Government is making available up to £3.7 billion of additional funding for social care authorities in 2025/26, which includes a £880 million increase in the Social Care Grant. This is part of an overall increase to local government spending power of 6.8% in cash terms.
More widely, the Government provides support for charities, including hospices, via our tax regime, which is among the most generous of anywhere in the world. Tax reliefs for charities and their donors was worth just over £6 billion for the tax year to April 2024.
Asked by: Lord Bradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many palliative care beds are currently provided by (1) the NHS, (2) charities and (3) the private sector, in each region of England.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Palliative care and end of life care are broad, holistic approaches provided through a range of professionals and providers, both generalist and specialist, across the National Health Service, social care, and voluntary sector organisations. Therefore, the number of beds specifically used for palliative care is difficult to measure as relevant consultations and tasks are not always coded as such.
We do not hold central data on the number of palliative care beds provided by the NHS, charities, or the private sector in any region of England. Charitable and private sector palliative care and end of life care providers, including most hospices in England, are independent and autonomous organisations, and as such, they are not legally required to share such information with the Department.