Essex hospice must find extra £250,000 after National Insurance increase
The Farleigh Hospice are raising money by collecting and shredding Christmas trees for biomass fuel
An Essex hospice has said they've got to find an extra £250,000 this year for National Insurance (NI).
NI employer contributions will increase from 13.8% to 15% from April.
Farleigh Hospice tell Greatest Hits Radio they're hoping their Christmas tree recycling campaign, in it's 9th year, will provide some financial help.
Debbie de Boltz is the head of fundraising at Farleigh Hospice:
"I particularly love this campaign because it's literally making money from rubbish.
"When people register their tree they let us know what size it is, where it's going to be collected from, make a donation to us, then we go out and pick it all up.
The event takes place over the weekend of 10, 11 & 12 January 2025 and is open to anyone in mid Essex with a real Christmas tree who wishes to have it collected for recycling.
The scheme raises valuable funds to enable Farleigh to care for local residents affected by life limiting illness or bereavement.
Debbie continues: "I'm really proud to work for the hospice and we've got to ensure it stays running.
"We've got to find an extra £250,000 this year and we're already running on a deficit budget.
Farleigh Hospice already have 2700 trees registered for the campaign and just over £47,000 donated.
It says the trees are "truly recycled".
"We shred them all down and sell the shreddings to a company for biomass fuel. If we get a rooted tree in, we will take that to the Hospice and plant it" says Debbie.
The deadline for registering your tree is 16:00 on Wednesday 8th January 2025.