Make parking at work permanently free for all NHS workers

The Government should provide the funding necessary to ensure that parking at their place of work is free for all NHS workers. It is unacceptable that people who are working to save lives and care for the sick have to pay to park their car at work.

Our Government needs to step up and give something back to our NHS workers, the cost of living is already sky rocketing. Let’s save our nations heroes from at least one expense.

In July 2020, the Prime Minister confirmed that NHS staff would receive free car parking for the duration of the pandemic. This was always intended to be a time-limited measure at a time of unprecedented demand.

Thanks to the hard work of NHS staff, we are in a vastly different position to 24 months ago. The success of the vaccination programme means that the population now has much stronger protection against COVID-19 than at any other point in the pandemic. We are learning to live with the virus and moving out of the pandemic, with all COVID-19 measures having been removed in recent months. In this context, it is right that the temporary measure of free hospital car parking for NHS staff ended from 1 April 2022.

Free parking will remain in place for NHS staff who work overnight, given that public transport is not always readily available. This is part of the Government’s wider manifesto commitment to provide free hospital car parking for in need groups, specifically disabled people, frequent outpatient attenders, parents of sick children staying in hospital overnight and staff working night shifts.

As of 29 March 2022, 94% of NHS Trusts who charge for car parking have fully implemented free car parking for those with greatest need. NHS England are working with the remaining Trusts to ensure full compliance with free car parking for in-need groups can be achieved as soon as possible. This will be the first time that NHS hospital car parking has been free nationally across England for people who need it the most. Guidance for Trusts (accessible online: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nhs-patient-visitor-and-staff-car-parking-principles/nhs-patient-visitor-and-staff-car-parking-principles) provides detailed definitions of the those with greatest need.

Availability for parking spaces is on a ‘first come-first serve basis’ with patients, staff and visitors competing for the same available parking spaces, and car parking charges play a role in managing capacity as there are a limited number of car parking spaces available for patients and staff. The income from car parking is primarily used to pay for the cost of running the car park, for example security and maintenance costs. Any surplus income is re-invested in NHS services.

Department of Health and Social Care