Union petition to get hospital staff parking charges axed

A has been launched to scrap parking charges set to hit some of Birmingham’s lowestpaid hospital staff.

More than 290 people have put their names to the campaign, launched by Unison, which calls for University Hospitals Birmingham (UHB) NHS Foundation Trust to axe the charges.

The trust runs the Queen

Elizabeth (QE) and three other hospitals. With the changes, the lowest-paid will have more cash taken from their wages each month to cover parking costs, despite NHS workers at trusts in the Black Country not having to pay at all.

Before Covid, those workers earning less than £19,461 at the QE paid £10 a month for parking. But now, a blanket one per cent charge for all UHB staff means workers earning £18,870 will pay £15.72 a month.

Unions have criticised the move during a cost of living crisis when bills have shot up. Parking payments were suspended during the pandemic and trusts advised to reinstate them by the Government, which has stopped funding to cover lost income.

The petition claims: “These are the problems which staff currently face: Day staff queuing to find a space and having to wait for the night shift to finish; staff having to arrive at work well before their start time just to find a space, sometimes not being able to park at all; staff are paying more but experiencing no improvements.”

A UHB spokesman said:

“Following the removal of Government funding for free car parking, we have reintroduced car parking charges for staff and standardised this across our hospital sites. In line with national guidance, blue badge holders and night shift workers receive free car parking.

“We do not underestimate the strength of feeling in regards to the pressures on car parking capacity, therefore we are working with car parking operators on a new system that will offer more efficient use of existing space, better flexibility, affordability, and enforceability – while also investing in new cycle facilities, working with transport operators to enable good commuter discounts, and exploring the option of off-site park-and-ride facilities.”