NHS Hospitals Rake in a Record £300 Million From Parking Charges

Hospitals in England generated a record £300 million in parking charges last year, according to newly released NHS figures.

Patients and visitors paid £213 million, while NHS staff contributed a further £87 million. The total was the highest on record, representing a £30 million increase compared with the previous year.

Of the £300 million collected, £87 million came from NHS employees parking at their place of work, while patients and visitors accounted for the remaining £213 million.

Where hospital car parks are not privately operated, the income helps cover maintenance and infrastructure costs. Any remaining profits must be reinvested by NHS trusts into frontline care. However, hospital parking fees have faced widespread criticism over their financial impact on patients, visitors and healthcare workers.

Since 2018–19, when complete figures were first published by the NHS, hospitals in England have collected more than £1.7 billion in parking charges.

The Conservative Party pledged in its 2019 manifesto to "end unfair hospital car parking charges", promising free parking for those most in need. Despite temporary subsidies for NHS staff during the Covid-19 pandemic, charges have risen sharply since then.

Clive Jones MP, the Liberal Democrats' health spokesperson, criticised the fees, describing them as "a tax on the sick".

He said: "Nobody should have to count the cost of a parking meter while visiting a sick relative or getting the treatment they need. It's a disgrace that nurses and care workers, already stretched to breaking point, are being charged more than ever just to turn up to work their shift.

"Ministers must stop squeezing patients and staff for cash and work with NHS trusts to bring these unfair fees down."

Parking revenue has climbed significantly since the government's pandemic-era subsidy ended in 2022. NHS England collected £193 million in 2022–23, rising to £243 million the following year. The total increased further to £271 million in 2024–25, before reaching a record £300 million last year.

Rachel Harrison, national secretary of the GMB trade union, described parking charges imposed on hospital staff as "utterly obscene".

The Department of Health was contacted for comment.

E&K Solicitors