Callum Murphy is an aide to a Shadow Minister, a school governor and a fundraiser for Acorns Hospice.
When most people think of hospices, they think of compassion.
They think of dedicated nurses, volunteers and fundraisers. They think of places that support people and families through some of life’s most difficult moments with extraordinary professionalism and kindness.
They’re right.
But hospices are far more than healthcare providers.
They are among the finest examples of British civil society in action. They bring together charities, volunteers, communities and clinicians to provide care that simply cannot be replicated elsewhere. Working alongside the NHS, they provide specialist care, emotional support and respite for patients and families, while easing pressure on hospitals and saving the taxpayer millions of pounds every year through preventing unnecessary admissions and enabling more people to receive care in the right setting.
That is why I find it so difficult to understand why this Government has chosen to make their job harder.
My own appreciation of hospices comes from personal experience.
My late brother, Champ, spent time at Acorns Children’s Hospice, and it showed my family what these remarkable organisations are really about. We found a place filled with warmth, compassion and dignity. The staff knew every child as an individual, supported parents carrying enormous responsibilities and created an environment where families could simply spend precious time together. They gave my parents something that is often in desperately short supply when caring for a child with complex needs: the reassurance that they were not facing those challenges alone.
Those experiences have stayed with me ever since. They taught me that hospices are defined not by the illnesses they treat, but by the care they provide. Whether caring for children with life-limiting conditions or adults approaching the end of their lives, hospices help people live with dignity, comfort and the very best quality of life possible. They support families as much as patients, offering specialist nursing, therapies, counselling, respite care and practical advice at moments when those services matter most.
That is why the growing financial pressures facing hospices should concern anyone who believes in supporting families, strengthening communities and making the NHS more sustainable.
Labour’s decision not to exempt hospices from its increase in employer National Insurance contributions has landed charitable hospices with substantial additional employment costs at precisely the moment demand for their services continues to grow.
For organisations where staffing accounts for around seventy per cent of expenditure, this is not a minor administrative change. It means money that generous donors believed would pay for nurses, therapists, counsellors and frontline care is instead being diverted to meet higher tax bills.
Following the increase in employer National Insurance contributions, Acorns was hit with a £416,000 increase in its bill – the equivalent of nine nurses. That is £416,000 that supporters believed would help care for children and families like mine, now being swallowed up by a tax bill instead. It is difficult to explain to donors why the money they raised through sponsored walks, charity shops and community events is paying for higher National Insurance contributions rather than frontline care.
That is not what charitable giving is supposed to achieve.
The consequences are already becoming apparent.
Hospices have warned that higher costs will force difficult decisions about staffing, respite services and inpatient capacity. Some have already begun reducing services or delaying recruitment simply to remain financially viable. These are not abstract financial pressures. They translate directly into fewer families receiving the support they need and greater pressure being placed on an NHS that is already under enormous strain.
What makes this particularly frustrating is that hospices are not asking Government to shoulder the entire burden.
Every year they raise hundreds of millions of pounds themselves through community fundraising, charity shops, local businesses, volunteers and the extraordinary generosity of the British public. They embody exactly the sort of civic responsibility and community spirit Conservatives have always championed. Edmund Burke famously spoke of society’s “little platoons” – the institutions that stand between the individual and the state, strengthening families and communities. Hospices are among the finest modern examples of that tradition.
Government should see hospices as partners, not as organisations expected to absorb yet another financial shock.
That means providing long-term funding certainty instead of forcing hospices to rely on piecemeal settlements and perpetual fundraising simply to maintain core services. It means reversing the decision to saddle charitable hospices with higher employer National Insurance costs, recognising the unique contribution they make to our health and care system. It means ensuring Integrated Care Boards commission hospice and palliative care consistently across the country, so access to specialist support is not determined by a postcode. And it means recognising respite care – particularly for families caring for children with life-limiting conditions – not as an optional extra, but as an essential part of a compassionate, sustainable health service.
These are not simply costs to the Exchequer. They are investments in institutions that save the NHS money, strengthen families and represent the very best of Britain’s voluntary sector.
There is something all of us can do as well.
We can support our local hospice. We can volunteer our time, donate if we are able, shop in hospice charity shops or take part in fundraising events that keep these remarkable organisations going. Every contribution, however small, helps ensure another family receives the care and support they deserve.
That is why I am proud to be running the Royal Parks Half Marathon this October in support of Acorns Children’s Hospice. It is a small way of thanking an organisation that meant so much to Champ and my family, but, more importantly, of helping ensure other families can receive the same compassion, expertise and kindness that we were fortunate enough to experience.
Hospices represent Britain at its very best. They are built on kindness, sustained by generosity and driven by people whose professionalism changes lives every single day. They deserve more than our gratitude.
They deserve a government that recognises their value, works with them as genuine partners and ensures that public policy strengthens – rather than weakens – one of our country’s greatest charitable institutions.
Callum Murphy is an aide to a Shadow Minister, a school governor and a fundraiser for Acorns Hospice.
When most people think of hospices, they think of compassion.
They think of dedicated nurses, volunteers and fundraisers. They think of places that support people and families through some of life’s most difficult moments with extraordinary professionalism and kindness.
They’re right.
But hospices are far more than healthcare providers.
They are among the finest examples of British civil society in action. They bring together charities, volunteers, communities and clinicians to provide care that simply cannot be replicated elsewhere. Working alongside the NHS, they provide specialist care, emotional support and respite for patients and families, while easing pressure on hospitals and saving the taxpayer millions of pounds every year through preventing unnecessary admissions and enabling more people to receive care in the right setting.
That is why I find it so difficult to understand why this Government has chosen to make their job harder.
My own appreciation of hospices comes from personal experience.
My late brother, Champ, spent time at Acorns Children’s Hospice, and it showed my family what these remarkable organisations are really about. We found a place filled with warmth, compassion and dignity. The staff knew every child as an individual, supported parents carrying enormous responsibilities and created an environment where families could simply spend precious time together. They gave my parents something that is often in desperately short supply when caring for a child with complex needs: the reassurance that they were not facing those challenges alone.
Those experiences have stayed with me ever since. They taught me that hospices are defined not by the illnesses they treat, but by the care they provide. Whether caring for children with life-limiting conditions or adults approaching the end of their lives, hospices help people live with dignity, comfort and the very best quality of life possible. They support families as much as patients, offering specialist nursing, therapies, counselling, respite care and practical advice at moments when those services matter most.
That is why the growing financial pressures facing hospices should concern anyone who believes in supporting families, strengthening communities and making the NHS more sustainable.
Labour’s decision not to exempt hospices from its increase in employer National Insurance contributions has landed charitable hospices with substantial additional employment costs at precisely the moment demand for their services continues to grow.
For organisations where staffing accounts for around seventy per cent of expenditure, this is not a minor administrative change. It means money that generous donors believed would pay for nurses, therapists, counsellors and frontline care is instead being diverted to meet higher tax bills.
Following the increase in employer National Insurance contributions, Acorns was hit with a £416,000 increase in its bill – the equivalent of nine nurses. That is £416,000 that supporters believed would help care for children and families like mine, now being swallowed up by a tax bill instead. It is difficult to explain to donors why the money they raised through sponsored walks, charity shops and community events is paying for higher National Insurance contributions rather than frontline care.
That is not what charitable giving is supposed to achieve.
The consequences are already becoming apparent.
Hospices have warned that higher costs will force difficult decisions about staffing, respite services and inpatient capacity. Some have already begun reducing services or delaying recruitment simply to remain financially viable. These are not abstract financial pressures. They translate directly into fewer families receiving the support they need and greater pressure being placed on an NHS that is already under enormous strain.
What makes this particularly frustrating is that hospices are not asking Government to shoulder the entire burden.
Every year they raise hundreds of millions of pounds themselves through community fundraising, charity shops, local businesses, volunteers and the extraordinary generosity of the British public. They embody exactly the sort of civic responsibility and community spirit Conservatives have always championed. Edmund Burke famously spoke of society’s “little platoons” – the institutions that stand between the individual and the state, strengthening families and communities. Hospices are among the finest modern examples of that tradition.
Government should see hospices as partners, not as organisations expected to absorb yet another financial shock.
That means providing long-term funding certainty instead of forcing hospices to rely on piecemeal settlements and perpetual fundraising simply to maintain core services. It means reversing the decision to saddle charitable hospices with higher employer National Insurance costs, recognising the unique contribution they make to our health and care system. It means ensuring Integrated Care Boards commission hospice and palliative care consistently across the country, so access to specialist support is not determined by a postcode. And it means recognising respite care – particularly for families caring for children with life-limiting conditions – not as an optional extra, but as an essential part of a compassionate, sustainable health service.
These are not simply costs to the Exchequer. They are investments in institutions that save the NHS money, strengthen families and represent the very best of Britain’s voluntary sector.
There is something all of us can do as well.
We can support our local hospice. We can volunteer our time, donate if we are able, shop in hospice charity shops or take part in fundraising events that keep these remarkable organisations going. Every contribution, however small, helps ensure another family receives the care and support they deserve.
That is why I am proud to be running the Royal Parks Half Marathon this October in support of Acorns Children’s Hospice. It is a small way of thanking an organisation that meant so much to Champ and my family, but, more importantly, of helping ensure other families can receive the same compassion, expertise and kindness that we were fortunate enough to experience.
Hospices represent Britain at its very best. They are built on kindness, sustained by generosity and driven by people whose professionalism changes lives every single day. They deserve more than our gratitude.
They deserve a government that recognises their value, works with them as genuine partners and ensures that public policy strengthens – rather than weakens – one of our country’s greatest charitable institutions.