Animal hospital 'worried about the future'

A rescue centre that has been saving animals for 40 years has said it is becoming too expensive to care for them.

Vale Wildlife Hospital and Rehabilitation Centre in Beckford, Worcestershire, cares for injured or sick wild animals and birds of prey, but manager Natalie Gould said it was costing £2,300 a day to run the charity.

"Sadly it is becoming very expensive as we don't charge, are open 24/7 all year round and get all our money from very generous members of the public," she said.

Ms Gould said the upcoming increase in employer National Insurance contributions (NICs) would also be a financial blow to the charity.

"Looking at our finances, I'm worried about the future," Ms Gould said.

"We are not at the point where we're going to close tomorrow. However, our finances are not sustainable as they are, so we have to look at different ways of getting money in."

The Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, increased the tax for employers in her budget last year and it comes into force on 6 April - meaning the rate of employers' NICs will increase from 13.8% to 15%.

Ms Gould said the additional rising cost of medication and bills was putting pressure on the ability to keep the charity running.

"A really big thing for us is energy costs, and yes it's gone up for everyone, but for us it jumped from about £1,500 per month up to £5,500 a month.

"We have always been a hand to mouth charity, so we've never had surplus funds in the bank to be able to spend it on whatever we'd like.

"If anyone is able to help with with anything, whether it be donating goods to us that we can send our shops, donating goods to help with the animals or donating financially, hopefully we can be here for another 40 years and beyond."