National Insurance hike will hit Devon hospice

"Tax the wealthy, not care providers!"

Changes to National Insurance will cost South Devon’s main hospice almost a quarter of a million pounds a year.

The revelation came during a House of Commons debate in which a local MP called on the government to think again.

South Devon Liberal Democrat MP Caroline Voaden said the increase in the amount businesses pay in employees’ National insurance (NI) would mean ‘dire consequences’ for social care, primary care, the NHS, hospices and charities.

“Thousands of care providers are already on the brink of bankruptcy, and this national insurance increase risks tipping them over the edge,” she said.

She said the government had overestimated the income it would generate, and better results could have come from taxing banks, capital gains and the ultra-wealthy.

Mrs Voaden went on: “This may be something particular to Totnes, but many wealthy constituents have told me that they wish they were being asked to pay more tax.”

Liberal Democrats want GPs and social care providers to be exempt from the changes.

She said the NI rises would add £225,000 to the annual costs of running Torquay’s Rowcroft Hospice. A local GP surgery said it expects to pay £187,000 more, while the Devon Mental Health Alliance estimated the cost increase at £375,000, potentially resulting in a loss of more than 25,000 staffing hours.

“That would mean that more people in Devon with complex needs will not be able to access its services,” said Mrs Voaden. “At a time when we have a mental health crisis across all ages and communities, this extra financial impact on voluntary sector services is short-sighted and will only heap more pressure on the NHS.”