Some frontline staff at Harrogate District Hospital have requested £150 refunds for being asked to pay for car parking during the pandemic.
Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust suspended parking charges for staff and visitors during the first lockdown but reinstated them in September.
The trust then wrote to staff last month saying it had decided to donate staff parking fees to Harrogate Hospital & Community Charity, where they would be put towards a staff health and wellbeing fund.
The monthly parking charge is £50.50, which means staff paid £151.50 to park on site during the last quarter of 2020.
Employees have now been given the choice to opt out of this arrangement or continue contributing to the health and wellbeing fund.
Most have chosen the latter, but a number have opted out and some are seeking refunds for parking charges incurred in the final quarter of 2020.
One frontline worker, who asked to remain anonymous, told the Stray Ferret they felt it was unfair to be charged for parking after such a demanding year, particularly with the risk of covid, or to be pressured into paying into the hospital charity, however worthy the cause. They added:
“It feels like a kick in the teeth after all we’ve been through in 2020. We were busy before Christmas but right now it’s manic and we feel we deserve this money back.”
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The person added £50.50 was a considerable monthly sum for low wage staff, including cleaners and porters, who paid for onsite parking to know their cars were secure when they worked overnight shifts rather than leave them on nearby streets, which can also annoy residents.
In a letter to staff last month, Jonathan Coulter, finance director of the trust, encouraged staff to continue contributing fees to the health and wellbeing fund but added:
“By necessity this needs to be optional for colleagues, and therefore you could simply opt out and park for free, but we would hope the vast majority of colleagues would like to continue this, given the positive impact that the money raised will have for all staff, and the fact that this will be at no cost over and above what you currently pay.”
Mr Coulter told staff last week that at the start of the year 13 of 300 staff the trust had written to had asked to opt out but he was aware more had done so since.
He added the issue would be kept under review.
A Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust spokesman told the Stray Ferret the car parking fees would be “specifically used to benefit colleague health and wellbeing all across the trust” and a staff group would decide where it is paid.
The spokesman declined to say whether staff would be offered refunds or why the trust had changed its parking policy again to offer the opt-out option.
