Green MSP Ross Greer has challenged Scottish Labour leader Jackie Baillie over National Insurance increase for hospices.
By Democrat reporter
West Dunbartonshire’s Green MSP Ross Greer has challenged Labour MSP Jackie Baillie over the impact on Robin House Hospice establishments of Labour’s employer National Insurance UK budget tax hike, slamming the “appalling decision” made by the UK Government.
Speaking in a Holyrood debate, Greer said: “The Scottish Government has received absolutely no clarity on the impact of these changes on hospices.
“Those who provide end-of-life care at the most difficult point in a family’s life are unable to plan ahead for their next financial year.”
In the recent UK Government Budget, the new Labour Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, announced an increase in employer contributions to National Insurance, estimated to cost the Scottish public sector £550 million per year.
It will cost millions more for care providers and charities like the Children’s Hospices Across Scotland (CHAS), who operate Robin House.
The UK Government has provided only £300 million to the Scottish Government, around half of what is required to meet the direct cost to the devolved public sector.
Hundreds of millions more will be required to support hospices and others such as third sector social care providers.
Despite media briefings that some kind of funding will be given to hospices specifically, no details have yet been confirmed by Westminster.
This is causing significant challenges for organisations who are unable to plan their budgets for next year and who could face significant additional costs.
Speaking in Parliament immediately after Scottish Labour deputy leader Baillie defended her party’s policy, Greer said:
“Jackie Baillie and I both know the wonderful work that is done by Children’s Hospices Association Scotland at Robin House in Balloch.
“The hospice sector across the UK, including in England, still does not know whether it will be partially or fully compensated by the UK Government. That is shocking.
“I cannot believe that we are here, just a few weeks into what was supposed to be a progressive change of Government at Westminster.”
“It was incredible to hear Jackie Baillie’s response to my challenge on CHAS’s Robin House and other hospices – that that is a matter for Health Secretary Neil Gray, when Neil Gray has not been told by the UK Government how much money he will get to compensate for the costs of the decision.”
Speaking after the debate, Greer said: “Hospices provide an incredible service to seriously ill children and their families, offering invaluable support at an impossibly difficult time.
“I know that Robin House staff go above and beyond for the children in their care and for their loved ones.
“That work needs to be properly funded, not left in limbo by a Labour government which hadn’t thought through the impact of its own policy.
“The Scottish Greens want well-funded public services, paid for by fair and progressive taxes.
“We should be balancing the books by taxing big business and the wealthy, not hospices, charities and social care providers.
“That’s why I am calling on the Chancellor to think again on Labour’s tax plans, fully fund the hospice sector, and replicate in England some of the Green tax policies which are raising hundreds of millions more every year for essential public services here in Scotland.”
Jackie Baillie has been asked by The Democrat to comment.