Demelza welcomes Government funding announcement

The Government has today announced that the £26 million formerly known as the Children’s Hospice Grant will be extended for three years and that it will be increased by the rate of inflation each year.

Demelza has long campaigned for sustainable funding and just this summer joined the Children’s Care Matters campaign which called for statutory funding for palliative and end of life care to be guaranteed. Previously the grant was only confirmed annually, meaning children’s hospices didn’t know when or how much statutory income they had coming in.

While the news is extremely welcome, challenges remain in the sector, with more funding required for specialist palliative and end of life care, workforce shortages and barriers preventing children with serious or life-limiting conditions and their families from being able to access the care and support they need, when and where they need it.

In 2025/26 the £26 million Children’s Hospice Grant was awarded by central Government to the UK’s 53 children’s hospices, with Demelza receiving £1.7m.

Chief Executive Lavinia Jarrett said: “Today’s announcement on the imminent future of at least some central funding for children’s hospices is fantastic news and has been a long time coming.

“We know the need for our services is increasing and that children are living longer with increasingly complex conditions and this will help us plan our services over the coming years with some certainty around our income, including engaging, developing and funding expert staff to deliver the extraordinary care we provide.

“As a charity, Demelza relies on our fantastic local communities, receiving 84% of funding from donations and fundraisers and we will always need that support to continue providing vital services, but the Government has a statutory duty to fund access to palliative and end of life care and we are delighted they have recognised some of this with their announcement today.

“Children’s hospices play a vital role in their communities and are a lifeline to families at some of the most difficult times, reducing pressure on the NHS.

“We are lucky to be well supported by many of our local MPs and we look forward to continuing to work with them as the details of this funding become clearer, as well as working with the wider sector to achieve clarity about how and when the funding will be distributed in 2026/27.”