Labour’s national insurance hike may end up costing GP surgeries more than two million appointments each year, research has found.
The government confirmed its plan to increase NI for employers – but not employees – last month.
It is part of the Treasury’s plan to fill the alleged £22bn black hole Labour claims the Tories left in the public finances.
While most NHS services are exempt from the NI increase, GP surgeries are not because they operate as privately owned partnerships.
According to the analysis from the Liberal Democrats, the hike could therefore cost surgeries the same amount as around 2.24 million GP appointments – at £56 per appointment – across the country.
When divided among the 6,275 practices affected, it could cost the average surgery the equivalent of 357 appointments a year – and costing the surgeries impacted a whopping £125.5m overall.
The Institute of General Practice Management estimated the NI hike increase will mean the average GP surgery’s annual tax bill will increase by around £20,000.
Speaking earlier this month, the chair of the BMA Council Phil Banfield already warned: “For some GPs, this will tip them over the edge. And we’ve seen over 1,000 practices close in the last 10 years.”
Liberal Democrat Health and Social Care spokesperson, Helen Morgan, also slammed the government, saying: “Clobbering GP practices with higher taxes makes no sense at a time when many people are already struggling to get an appointment.
“Surgeries are already struggling and these increased costs will leave GPs with no choice but to cut services and staff numbers. Ultimately it is patients around the country who will pay the price.
“The chancellor needs to urgently rethink these proposals and exempt GPs from this misguided tax hike.”
But the chief secretary to the Treasury, Darren Jones, told Times Radio on Sunday that the UK would not rethink the National Insurance increases – even though supermarkets have warned prices will also have to rise as a result.
Presenter Kate McCann asked the minister on Sunday: “If food prices go up, are you comfortable with that?”
Jones said it was a “hypothetical scenario,” and “we don’t want food prices to be going up for people”.
“That’s why we are working hard to keep inflation towards target at the 2% level as opposed to the 11% we had under the last government,” he said.
He added: “Bigger businesses that have more cash and higher profits have been asked to contribute a little more to help them get a grip of the public finances.”