Hospital bosses are going to bring in almost £1 million extra in the next year on the back of a big increase in car parking charges, a Freedom of Information request has revealed.
Data released by United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust (ULHT) shows that the body is expected to make £2,060,879 in revenue in the 2025/26 financial year from its car parks in Boston, Grantham and Lincoln, writes Local Democracy Reporter Oliver Castle.
This is up from a total of £1,159,452 in the year 2024/25 from the trust’s three hospital car parks – a rise of 78 per cent.
The hospital trust said it is forecast to generate £277,297 at its Grantham car park, £1,116,577 in revenue at the Lincoln car park and £667,005 in Boston in the next year.
The figures come after the trust raised the prices of parking at its hospital car parks in July.
The price of parking for one hour has risen from £1 to £2 and parking for two hours has increased from £2 to £3.
The charge for parking for three hours has doubled from £2 to £4 and parking for up to four hours has risen from £2 to £5.
Blue badge holders, motorcyclists and cancer patients remain able to park for free.
ULHT said the increase in charges would allow it to improve car parking across its hospitals and provide dedicated spaces for patients and visitors. It provided no further details of what this will mean in practice.
The money goes into the trust’s central funding pot for revenue, which includes car park infrastructure costs.
The FOI request showed the revenue generated at the trust’s hospital car parks has increased significantly over the last five years.
In 2020/21, the trust generated a total of £223,325 from its car parks in Grantham, Boston and Lincoln.
This breaks down to £21,343 which was raised from the Grantham car park, £68,286 generated from the Boston car park and £133,696 at the Lincoln car park.
Jayne Warner, director of corporate affairs at ULHT, said: “The revenue was so much lower in the 2020/2021 and 2021/2022 financial years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“During this time fewer appointments were held on our sites, visiting restrictions were in place and for several months in 2020 we also paused car parking charges for patients and visitors.
“All money generated comes back to the trust centrally and is used in various ways as part of our revenue budget, including reinvesting in our car park infrastructure.”
