STAFF at Southampton biggest hospital will have free parking throughout the whole of April despite the national benefit coming to an end.

Free parking for NHS staff working in hospitals in England will end on Friday, the Health Secretary has said.

Parking fees were waived during the Covid-19 pandemic in July 2020, but Sajid Javid said that the benefit would end on Friday.

However, staff at University Hospital Southampton are set to benefit from another month of free parking while hospital bosses consider the change.

The Trust has said that it "appreciates" the impact this will have on staff and has made the decision to continue free staff parking throughout the whole of April.

A spokesperson for University Hospital Southampton said: “It was announced nationally yesterday that the Government’s subsidy to provide free car parking for NHS staff will end on Friday (1 April).

“We appreciate the impact this would have on our staff and, therefore, parking on site and use of our park and ride will remain free of charge during April.

“We will be using this time to fully consider the changes to national policy and will update all colleagues as soon as we are able to provide more information.”

Before the pandemic, staff at the Trust who have a permit for full on-site parking pay a monthly fee linked to their pay band - a "discount" of the usual price.

As reported in January last year, NHS Digital data shows University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust made around £4.4 million through parking charges and penalty fines from staff, patients and visitors in the year to March 2020.

Of that, £3.3 million was paid by patients and visitors, while £1.2 million was made through charging staff to park.

The Trust has explained that any money made that does not go to upkeep, security or improvement the carparks is invested back into supporting frontline patient services and developing parking facilities and sustainable travel services.

Health secretary Sajid Javid said in a written statement to the Commons: "Free parking in hospital car parks for NHS staff introduced during the pandemic will also come to an end on March 31.

"However, over 93 per cent of NHS trusts that charge for car parking have implemented free parking for those in greatest need, including NHS staff working overnight."