Demelza has joined a campaign calling on the Prime Minister to secure sustainable funding for the children's hospice sector so children with serious or life-limiting conditions are guaranteed palliative and end of life care when they need it.

The Children’s Care Matters campaign puts pressure on the government to guarantee the Children’s Hospice Grant – or a sustainable equivalent - for at least five years and asks that it is increased by the rate of inflation every year.

Currently the grant is only confirmed annually, meaning children’s hospices don’t know when or how much statutory income they have coming in, making it harder to plan services.

As well as putting pressure on the Government, the campaign encourages the public to “raise their hand” in support of their local children’s hospice. Every hand raised counts as a show of support towards the grant being guaranteed.

As a charity Demelza relies on local communities, receiving 84% of its funding from donations and fundraisers, and it 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 so the campaign calls for hospices to be guaranteed the income needed to provide this part of the huge range of services they offer. 

In 2025/26 the Children's Hospice Grant, to the value of £26 million, was awarded by central Government to the UK’s 53 children’s hospices. Demelza received £1.7m, around 10% of its income. There is currently no indication or guarantee this grant will continue.

While there has been other Government funding for children’s hospices this year, the most recent announcement was specifically for capital expenditure such as one-off costs for repairs, upgrades and maintenance.

The Children’s Hospice Grant is not ringfenced funding, allowing hospices to spend the money where it is most needed to best plan services over the coming years.

Children’s hospices are about far more than palliative and end of life care. They provide a huge range of services to support children and their families, including therapies, counselling and short breaks, groups and activities, sibling support, bereavement support and specialist clinical care.

The campaign is being run by Acorns Children’s Hospice, based in the West Midlands. Acorns is the hospice Derek and Jennifer Phillips’s daughter Demelza worked at and was so passionate about. Her experience inspired them to fundraise to open a hospice which bears her name in Kent more than 25 years ago.

Demelza now supports more than 2,500 children and their families, with two hospices in Sittingbourne and Eltham, South East London and a community hospice in East Sussex.

Lavinia Jarrett, Demelza’s Chief Executive, said: “The future of your local children’s hospice is in your hands and in the hands of our Prime Minister, our MPs and decision makers so we would encourage everyone to support this campaign by raising their hand.

“Your backing will help us secure the long-term future of children’s hospice care and give families the vital support they need when facing the darkest of times, for years to come.

“While the Children’s Hospice Grant only makes up part of Demelza’s income, having it guaranteed as a source of on-going sustainable funding will allow us, and all children’s hospices, to better plan our specialist services.

“We are incredibly proud of the extraordinary care we provide to extraordinary children and their families and a guarantee of sustainable funding can only support us in delivering these services. That’s why we’re standing with Acorns on this campaign.”

Raise your hand for children's hospice care