HEALTH workers in the NHS 'deserve certainty' over whether they will continue to be able to park for free, according to Oxford MP Layla Moran.

The Lib Dem was responding to reports in the i newspaper today that the government was due to drop funding for NHS staff free parking at hospitals.

It reported that the Department of Health and Social Care said free parking would continue only for 'key patient groups and NHS staff in certain circumstances' as the pandemic eases.

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The health minister Edward Argar wrote in a statement on July 3 that nothing had changed on free parking for staff, but that it had only been made possible by support from local authorities and independent providers and 'this support cannot continue indefinitely'.

Ms Moran has now written to the government calling for clarity.

She said: “Removing parking charges for staff at the outset of Covid-19 was the right move. Our healthcare workers deserved to have certainty that they could get to work without extra charges or hassle."

She added: “Now the government must provide clarity and ensure our workers are not saddled with extortionate parking charges.

"We also need to see more efforts to promote green transport options for our healthcare workers.”