The NHS raked in £70m in staff charges last year as seven in ten of the lowest paid workers were forced to pay to park their car.
New figures from NHS Digital show trusts pocketed £70,510,110 in 2023/24 by charging doctors, nurses and porters to park their vehicles.
NHS staff in the North West paid the most, at almost £15 million, followed by the North East and Yorkshire at over £14.5 million, and then the Midlands at over £11 million.
The trust that suffered the most was Coventry and Warwickshire University Hospitals, which pocketed more than £3.2 million in parking fees, followed by Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust with just over £3 million.
A separate survey of almost 2,000 GMB members found that 72 per cent of those working in hospital settings had to pay to park at work.
GMB’s NHS pay claim lodged earlier this year calls for parking charges for NHS staff to be scrapped.
NHS staff benefited from free parking during the pandemic, but some trusts have since reintroduced charges.
Rachel Harrison, GMB National Secretary, said: ‘NHS workers have had their first above-inflation pay rise after almost 15 years of cuts.
New figures from NHS Digital show trusts pocketed £70,510,110 in 2023/24 by charging doctors, nurses and porters to park their vehicles.
A survey of almost 2,000 GMB members found that 72 per cent of those working in hospital settings had to pay for parking.
‘They have suffered skyrocketing workloads, chronic staff shortages and the consequences of a global pandemic.
‘Healthcare workers are on their knees: they need help and support. Charging them to park is kicking them while they’re on the ground.’
GMB is calling on the Government and NHS employers to do the right thing and remove car parking charges for staff.’
The Daily Mail has previously revealed that trusts also made £173.1m charging parking fees to patients last year, with critics accusing the NHS of “taxing the sick”.
The 2019 Conservative manifesto pledged to “end unfair car parking charges in hospitals by making parking free for those who need it most, including disabled people, frequent outpatients, parents of sick children passing the night and staff who work night shifts.
Current guidance from the Department of Health and Social Care says parking charges should be “reasonable for the area”.
Trusts should provide free parking for disabled people, frequent outpatients, parents of sick children staying overnight and staff working night shifts.
NHS England said parking charges are a way for trusts to manage capacity in their car parks for patients and staff.
The revenue is used to pay the cost of running the car park, such as security and maintenance, and surplus revenue is reinvested into NHS services.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “Hospital parking charges are the responsibility of individual NHS trusts, however any charges must be reasonable and in line with the local area.
“Free parking is available for all NHS staff working overnight.”