Hospital car parking fees soar 50% to £146m in “tax on caring”

EMBARGO: For Immediate Release

Patients and visitors shelled out a staggering £146 million in hospital car parking fees last year, up 50% compared to the previous year, figures uncovered by the Liberal Democrats have revealed.

It’s the equivalent of £400,000 being paid in hospital car parking fees every single day.

The annual figures from the NHS show that hospital trusts made £145.9 million in income from patients and visitors’ car parking fees in 2022/23. This is up by more than 50% from £96.7m the previous year, and triple the £47.9m made from parking fees two years ago.

Meanwhile hospital car parking fees paid by staff increased more than eightfold compared to the previous year, rising from £5.6 million to £46.7 million. It comes after a scheme offering free parking for NHS staff during the pandemic was brought to an end in March 2022.

The Liberal Democrats called the fees a “tax on caring” with visitors and hard-working NHS staff shelling out for parking, and said the Conservatives were failing to deliver on a manifesto promise to crack down on unfair hospital car parking fees.

The Liberal Democrats are calling on the Government to work with NHS trusts to reduce fees for visitors and staff, and introduce a ‘Visiting and Caring Fund’ to ensure that no one is shelling out unfair sums to visit their loved ones and to support NHS staff with parking charges.

The party also warned that the government’s failure to properly fund local health services could lead to hospitals hiking parking charges on patients and staff. Recent analysis by the Health Foundation has shown that the NHS is facing real-terms cuts of £3.5 billion this year, and is set to fall by another £1.3 billion next year

The Conservative Party’s 2019 election manifesto promised to "end unfair hospital car parking charges,”  by making parking free for those in greatest need. Current guidance says that disabled people, frequent outpatient attenders, parents of sick children staying overnight and staff working night shifts mustn’t pay car parking fees. Outside of these rules NHS trusts can decide how they charge.

Liberal Democrat Health and Social Care spokesperson, Daisy Cooper MP, said:

“Hospital car parking fees are becoming a tax on caring for visitors and our hard-working NHS staff. This Conservative government is utterly failing to deliver on their promise to crack down on unfair hospital parking fees, and people are literally paying the price.

“It is unthinkable that Rishi Sunak is slashing NHS funding when hospitals are already on the brink. This will just make the cash crisis facing local health services even worse, forcing them to make more impossible choices in the years ahead.

“The message to the public couldn’t be clearer, voting Conservative is bad for your wallet and bad for your health.”

ENDS

Notes to Editor

Source 2022/23 (ERIC 2022/23 report, tab 4b): https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/estates-returns-information-collection/england-2022-23 

Source 2021/22 (ERIC 2021/22 report, tab 4btab 4b): https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/estates-returns-information-collection/england-2021-22 

The Conservative Party manifesto promise on hospital car parking fees can be found here (p.11).

Health Foundation analysis of NHS spending reported by the FT here.

NHS car parking guidance 2022 for NHS trusts and NHS foundation trusts here.