Labour is accused of taking NI from hospices then giving it back under £100m funding plan
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Hospices are being handed back money taken from them by Labour’s national insurance raid repackaged as bumper new funding, it is claimed. The Government yesterday said adult and children’s hospices will receive £100 million to help with providing end of life care in what it described as the ‘biggest investment in a generation’.
![[Hospices are being handed back money taken from them by Labour ’s national insurance raid repackaged as bumper new funding, it is claimed (File image)]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/20/00/93338285-14212193-image-a-15_1734653536297.jpg)
But the Conservatives accused ministers of taking millions of pounds from hospices and palliative care charities in the autumn Budget - before telling them to be ‘grateful’ for getting some money back. Shadow health minister Dr Caroline Johnson criticised Labour for having ‘the audacity’ to make such a claim, adding: ‘This is socialism at its finest.’.
![[The Conservatives accused ministers of taking millions of pounds from hospices and palliative care charities in the autumn Budget (File image)]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/20/00/93338237-14212193-image-a-16_1734653538664.jpg)
Tory former health minister Neil O’Brien, who described Chancellor Rachel Reeves as the ‘Grinch who stole Christmas’ when she hiked employers’ national insurance contributions in her October statement, yesterday called for charities and voluntary groups to be exempted from the increase.
Hospice organisations have previously said they would face further financial burden without such an exemption. While Hospice UK said the latest funding would be ‘hugely welcomed’, end-of-life charity Marie Curie warned a one-off investment will not be enough to make the improvements needed.
