Fair Funding Now
Cross-party parliamentary support for hospice funding.
On 2nd June at 3pm, MPs and Peers from across all parties and both Houses will come together at Downing Street to call for urgent fair funding for hospices.
This page brings together the letter, parliamentary support, media release and resources to help you take action.
A Letter to the Prime Minister
The Rt Hon Sir Keir Starmer MP
Prime Minister
10 Downing Street
London
SW1A 2AA
Dear Prime Minister & Secretary of State for Health and Social Care,
We write as Members of Parliament and Peers from across both Houses and from all parties to express our shared concern regarding the growing financial pressures facing hospices across the United Kingdom.
Hospices provide essential, compassionate care to patients and families at the most vulnerable moments in their lives. However, across the country, hospices are increasingly reporting that financial pressures are now impacting their ability to maintain services at current levels.
This is not an isolated issue, but one being felt widely across the sector. Hospices are facing rising costs, increasing demand, and widening funding gaps — with many now having to make difficult decisions that affect capacity, access to care, and the support available to patients and their families. In some cases, beds and even newly opened hospice rooms are now sitting empty despite demand for services, simply because funding and staffing pressures mean they cannot safely be operated.
As parliamentarians, we are hearing directly from hospices, clinicians, and our constituents about the real-world impact of these pressures. We are also acutely aware of the wider implications for the health system, including increased pressure on NHS services where hospice provision is reduced.
We therefore come together, on a cross-party basis, to support the sector’s call for urgent and sustainable hospice funding and to urge the Government to give urgent priority to ensuring that hospices are able to continue delivering the vital care on which so many rely.
This collective expression of support reflects not a political position, but a shared recognition across both Houses of the importance of hospice care and the need to address the challenges now being faced.
While previous Government funding announcements have been welcomed across the sector, significant concerns remain around the long-term sustainability and fairness of hospice funding. We would welcome continued engagement with the sector and look forward to the Government setting out the steps it will take to provide the support needed to sustain hospice services both now and in the longer term.
Supported by the undersigned Members of Parliament and Peers.
Yours sincerely,
Corin Dalby
Tricia Dalby
Selected supporters include
Cross-party MPs and Peers supporting Fair Funding Now
Key voices include:
Conservative supporters
• Sir Jeremy Hunt – Former Chancellor and former Health Secretary
• Sir Iain Duncan Smith – Former Conservative Party Leader
• Lord Lamont – Former Chancellor
• Lord Brady – Former Chairman of the Conservative Party
• Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown – Chair of the Public Accounts Committee
• Sir Andrew Mitchell – Former Cabinet Minister
Labour supporters
• Diane Abbott – Former Shadow Home Secretary
• John McDonnell – Former Shadow Chancellor
• Debbie Abrahams MP
• Kate Osamor MP
• Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – Former Health Minister
• Lord West – Former security minister and First Sea Lord
Liberal Democrat supporters
• Helen Morgan MP – Liberal Democrat Health spokesperson
• Daisy Cooper MP – Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats
• Baroness Finlay – Leading palliative care expert
Other parliamentary and specialist supporters
• Vicky Anne-Price – Palliative care and healthcare voice
• Lord Darzi – Leading surgeon and former Health Minister
• Lord Dannatt – Former Head of the British Army
• Lord Pannick KC – Leading crossbench barrister
• Lord Wigley – Former Plaid Cymru leader
What Parliament is Saying
Lord Dannatt:
“We must ensure that others receive the same compassionate hospice care.”
Lord Polak:
“After participating in the committee stage of the Assisted Dying Bill, I am more convinced than ever that hospices throughout the UK must be properly funded.”
Neil Duncan-Jordan MP:
“Otherwise they are left to get the begging bowls out — which is neither dignified nor sustainable.”
Lord Foulkes:
“Hospice care must be seen as a crucial part of health care and properly funded.”
Lord Truscott:
“Hospices provide vital care and deserve fair funding.”
Sir Desmond Swayne MP:
“The situation is urgent: desperately needed service provision is already being cut back.”
Professor Vicky Price:
“Ensuring sustainable support for hospice services is essential to maintaining safe, dignified care.”
Take Action
If you are part of the hospice sector or support it:
- Contact your MP and ask them to support Fair Funding Now
- Share the campaign on social media
- Add your MP’s name publicly once they confirm support
Social Media Resources
Download and share campaign graphics to show your support.
Press Release
MORE THAN 250 MPs AND PEERS BACK RARE CROSS-PARTY HOSPICE FUNDING INTERVENTION AT DOWNING STREET
Cross-party parliamentary gathering to take place outside No.10 amid growing hospice funding concerns
Parliamentarians from across both Houses and all major political traditions are expected to gather outside Downing Street on Tuesday 2 June to call for urgent and sustainable hospice funding.
The gathering will coincide with the delivery of a parliamentary letter to both the Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, reflecting growing concern across Parliament regarding the financial pressures facing hospices throughout the United Kingdom.
Support for increased hospice funding has now grown to approximately 285 MPs and Peers across both Houses, with more than 200 parliamentarians supporting the parliamentary letter itself and more than 50 parliamentarians currently expected or planning to attend the gathering.
Supporters span Labour, Conservative, Liberal Democrat, Reform, Green, Crossbench and Independent traditions, reflecting one of the broadest parliamentary coalitions to emerge around a health and care issue in recent years.
Among those supporting the wider call for hospice funding are Jeremy Hunt, Sir Iain Duncan Smith, Lord Brady, Lord Polak, Lord Lamont, Alison Bennett MP, Baroness Finlay of Llandaff and parliamentarians from across all major parties.
Hospices across the country continue to warn of growing financial pressures driven by rising costs, increasing demand and widening funding gaps. In some cases, beds and even newly opened hospice rooms are now sitting empty despite demand for services, simply because funding and staffing pressures mean they cannot safely be operated.
Corin Dalby, coordinator of the parliamentary intervention, said:
“Parliamentarians from across the political spectrum are coming together because hospice care is simply too important to become a party-political issue.
Hospices provide compassionate care and support to patients and families at the most difficult moments imaginable, yet many providers now face increasingly difficult decisions around beds, staffing and service provision.
The thought that hospice beds can sit empty despite demand simply because funding pressures prevent them from being operated should concern all of us.
This gathering is about sending a clear message that fair and sustainable hospice funding matters and that Parliament recognises the vital role hospices play within communities across the country.”
The parliamentary gathering is expected to take place outside the Downing Street gates from approximately 3.30pm following the formal handover of the letter to No.10.
Parliamentary voices
Helen Morgan MP, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Health and Social Care, said: “It’s simply wrong that our wonderful hospices can’t plan for the future because of the Government’s failure to commit enough funding.
“Hospices up and down the country provide crucial care, supporting patients and their families through the toughest of times.
“I fully support fair funding both now and for the future so that people know they will be able to access the care they deserve when they need it most.”
Caroline Dinenage MP said:
“Hospices are on life support due to the Government’s tax rises and inconsistent support. Without urgent intervention, we risk seeing the dignity hospices provide at the end of life taken away.”
Lord Lamont of Lerwick said:
“There are many demands for public spending, but the need for additional funding for hospices is urgent. With an ageing population, Britain’s hospices are facing immense challenges, and providing greater support should be a high priority for any government.”
Baron Foulkes said:
“Hospice care must be seen as a crucial part of our health system and properly funded.”
Kate Osamor MP said:
“Hospice leaders have warned for months that they are nearing a financial crisis. We must act now to secure the funding needed to protect essential end-of-life care.”
Caroline Dinenage MP said:
“Hospices are on life support due to the Government’s tax rises and inconsistent support. Without urgent intervention, we risk seeing the dignity hospices provide at the end of life taken away.”
Neil Duncan-Jordan MP said:
“Otherwise they are left to get the begging bowls out — which is neither dignified nor sustainable.”
Sir Desmond Swayne MP said:
“The situation is urgent — essential hospice services are already being cut back. This cannot continue.”
Lord Truscott said:
“Hospices provide vital care — and they deserve fair and sustainable funding.”
Lord Lamont of Lerwick said:
“There are many demands for public spending, but the need for additional funding for hospices is urgent. With an ageing population, Britain’s hospices are facing immense challenges, and providing greater support should be a high priority for any government.”
Baron Foulkes said:
“Hospice care must be seen as a crucial part of our health system and properly funded.”
Professor Vicky Anne-Price, President of the Society for Acute Medicine said:
“Patients approaching end of life need compassionate and skilled care. Many have complex medical and psychological needs, and hospices are essential in providing this away from the pressures of acute hospitals. –
At a time of increasing pressure across the NHS, ensuring sustainable support for hospice services is vital to maintaining safe, dignified care.”
Campaign statement
Corin Dalby and Tricia Dalby, founders of the Fair Funding Now campaign and Directors at Box Power CIC, said:
“This is no longer a quiet warning — it is now a clear and united signal from across Parliament that the hospice funding crisis has reached a critical point.
When MPs and Peers from all sides come together at Downing Street, it reflects the scale and seriousness of the issue. Hospices are a vital part of our healthcare system, and urgent action is now needed to protect patients, families, communities and the wider NHS.”
The Downing Street intervention will take place on Monday 18 May, with a letter handover at 1pm and a larger cross-party gathering expected shortly afterwards.
As pressure grows, Fair Funding Now is rapidly becoming one of the clearest parliamentary signals yet that hospice funding can no longer be ignored.
Notes to editors
Fair Funding Now is a parliamentary-backed campaign supported by MPs and Peers across both Houses, coordinated by Corin and Tricia Dalby of Box Power CIC, a UK-based philanthropic energy consultancy. Box Power donates its profits to UK charities, including hospice organisations, and is a patron of several hospices.
About Box Power:
Founded in 2014, Box Power CIC is the UK’s first philanthropic not-for-profit energy consultancy for business. In 2021, Box Power donated £800,000 to northwest charities. Last December, following a 7-mth campaign for £100mll hospice funding, with the support from major hospices and over 100 cross-party MP’s they took their fight direct to 10-Downing St as covered by major media TV and newspapers as seen here in the Daily Express, BBC & ITV.