Victoria Collins MP backs amendment to exempt GPs, dentists and hospices from Government tax hike

Victoria Collins MP for Harpenden and Berkhamsted, and her Liberal Democrat colleagues have secured a vote in Parliament to protect GPs, hospices and other health and social care providers from the Government’s National Insurance tax hike.

The Liberal Democrat amendment to the Government’s National Insurance Contributions Bill would exempt all health and care providers including in the Harpenden and Berkhamsted constituency. This includes GPs, dentists, pharmacies, social care providers, hospices and charities providing health and care.

In the last few weeks since the Budget, Victoria has raised the plight of local businesses who will be affected. She raised the challenges facing the Elms Medical Practice and Hospice of St Francis in Harpenden and Berkhamsted.

Victoria has highlighted how these organisations - without the ability to pass the extra costs on to shareholders or change their prices - may have no choice but to lay off staff or stop recruitment. 

She has therefore urged the government, in the strongest possible terms, to exempt such providers from this tax hike.

Furthermore, hospices in the UK treat 300,000 people a year but only a third of their funding comes from government, with charities providing the rest. Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey previously warned Keir Starmer at PMQs not to go ahead with a tax hit on the sector.

Previous research by the Liberal Democrats has also revealed that the tax hike could end up costing GP surgeries the equivalent of more than two million appointments a year, due to an additional £125.5 million tax bill inflicted upon them.

Speaking on today’s vote, Victoria Collins MP said:

“Letter after letter has arrived in my inbox from local health and care providers highly concerned about how they’ll cope with the government’s National Insurance contribution hike, which will raise pressure on these vital local services.

“The focus ought to be on fixing our health and care services, whether that’s GPs under strain or hospices already operating at the margins, rather than burdening them with higher costs.

“That’s why I’m backing this Liberal Democrat amendment to protect our local GPs, dentists and other health and care providers from the government’s tax hike. The government need to urgently rethink this, or else risk worsening the health and care crisis impacting Harpenden and Berkhamsted.”

Victoria also recently raised the plight of a local GP practice in Parliament:

“In Harpenden and Berkhamsted we have the Elms medical practice, which has said it is dedicated to the NHS and wants to serve people but is facing these difficulties. It is asking the Government to rethink their choice on national insurance. This is about those who want to serve and our constituents who need them.”

Alongside saying the following in Parliament immediately after the Budget:

“My inbox, like those of many Members across the House, has been filled by GP practices concerned about the increase in employer’s national insurance contributions. With no shareholders and no ability to increase prices, some of my local GPs have said that they fear layoffs will be the only option. Without an exemption from the tax rise, the vast majority of health and care providers that are private companies, including hospices and pharmacies, will not benefit, further threatening the integrity of the Government’s commitment to the NHS.”