KSS is a frontline pre-hospital emergency response healthcare provider. Every day we work hand-in-hand with our NHS colleagues at South East Coast Ambulance Service Trust (SECAmb), and other frontline Government emergency services, to save lives and provide the very best possible outcomes for our patients.
We’re the only provider of a Helicopter Emergency Medical Service serving around 5M people living in Kent, Surrey and Sussex. Our air ambulance helicopters, and highly skilled crews, bring advanced lifesaving critical care to the side of the most seriously injured and unwell patients, working alongside NHS ambulance crews, when every second counts for survival. We do this 24/7, 365.
However, unlike the NHS, we are not government funded.
We are a charity. Our lifesaving service is almost entirely funded through public donations.
That’s why we are so concerned about the Chancellor’s planned increase to employer National Insurance Contributions (NICs). While we welcome the commitment to reimburse public sector increased NICs, we are surprised that charities, such as ours, providing services fundamental to the Government’s ability to provide the best possible care and outcomes for patients, are not also being made exempt.
Like many other charitable healthcare providers, demand for our lifesaving service reached record levels last year. At the same time, operational costs are rising and fundraising challenges are being felt right across the sector as a result of the cost of living crisis.
So now, more than ever, we need the support of the Government for the benefit of our communities – to save lives and provide the best possible care and outcomes. Instead, we are seeing decisions that will ultimately have a detrimental impact on our service and our patients.
We strongly urge the Government to reconsider its decision and make charities exempt from increased NICs so that we can focus the public’s valuable donations on reaching more patients and saving more lives.
We stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the National Council of Voluntary Organisations in signing this Open Letter calling for a commitment to safeguard charities from increased employer NICs and encourage others to do the same.
To find out more: Open letter to the chancellor on the impact of increased employer National Insurance Contributions for charities | NCVO
