POLITICS: Care sector set for tough decisions as Westminster refuses to row back on National Insurance hike
If the UK government thought that the festive break would put some clear blue water between them and their unpopular Budget decision on changes to Employer National Insurance Contributions, then they were greatly mistaken, writes Aberdeenshire North and Moray East MP Seamus Logan.
Like an unwanted gift that keeps on giving, when it comes to this hugely controversial reform for hospices, GPs, charities and business, concerns over the huge damage these changes will cause continues to reverberate across the UK.
At the Parliamentary Neuro Reception with The Neurological Alliance this month, I spoke with representatives from charities and organisations in this alliance who relayed the difficulties they would face in finding the money to cope with these new costs. Inevitably it will mean making tough decisions on funding vital research or other such important initiatives.
That same week, I spoke in a House of Commons debate on Hospice and Palliative Care on what can only be described as an attack on the independent hospice sector as a result of rises in these ENICs. I raised the issue of one of Scotland’s leading providers of this sort of care, Marie Curie, which operates at least two residential services and community care in almost every local authority area in Scotland, providing skilled care and brightening the lives of patients as they face the prospect of their last weeks, days and hours. Ask any family who has benefited from this support; I defy anyone to find a critic.
It’s beyond belief that the UK government would decide to target the vital support they provide. The same can be said of organisations like Children’s Hospices Across Scotland, from whom I recently received a heartfelt plea on the dangers these rises will cause to their crucial work.
In fact, not a week goes by without my MP Inbox being filled with emails from concerned constituents and organisations on this matter, including GPs, who have highlighted how these changes are actually reducing patients’ access to primary care. When I met with GP representatives in the north-east recently, they revealed two ways in which this is happening; firstly, through having to let staff go and secondly, that some of the GPs are having to consider meeting some of these costs through their own pockets.
I have asked the Labour Government to consider introducing exemptions for GP practices in relation to these charges but just get the same non-answer trotted out to me – that it’s all Scotland’s fault. Methinks Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary, protests too much. He must know how hard GPs, hospices and charities work to support their patients in such a difficult economic climate, after years of austerity, the challenges of Covid and the cost-of-living crisis. They need so much better from Westminster, not petty political point scoring to avoid a decent, considered response.
Of course, while we’re on the subject of decency, the Chancellor should really perform a quick U-Turn on this budgetary choice rather than double down on her decision. Because this is a real-life issue, affecting real people, their loved ones and families at the most difficult point of their lives. They deserve so much better than being some of the unfortunate chosen ones responsible for filling this financial black hole as Labour describe it. I can think of much worthier targets.
The UK government would do well to look to Scotland for inspiration as they dig themselves out of this hole. In the recently announced Scottish Budget, it was encouraging to see that the Scottish Government committed themselves to increasing hospice funding by £4 million and to providing additional funding for hospice staff to match NHS pay awards.
It really boils down to priorities and choices. Surely, it’s better to prioritise supporting the vital work of these groups rather than make them choose between providing care, keeping on staff or having enough funding available to keep their services open? It’s incredible that I even need to point that out to a government elected on a promise of change.