Rachel Reeves told ‘scrap VAT on defibrillators’ by man who lost life-long partner to cardiac arrest
Nick Walton lost his partner of 37 years to a cardiac arrest in August 2024 and has since campaigned and fundraised for defibrillators in his local community
Chancellor Rachel Reeves has been encouraged to ‘save lives’ in the Autumn Budget and scrap VAT on defibrillators.
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Analysis carried out by LBC revealed the amount of tax paid on existing devices could fund enough to equip the population of Liverpool.
LBC spoke to Nick Walton, 56 from Essex, whose partner of 37 years Nicola died from a cardiac arrest in August 2024, eight weeks before Nick was struck by one as well.
He fundraises for defibrillators in his local community and told LBC the chancellor should scrap the tax he described as ‘harsh’.
Nick said: “I felt there was something I needed to do, to give me drive moving forward. So much had happened in a short period of time, I’m sure there would’ve been people who’d roll up in a corner and say, ‘just leave me alone’, but that just isn’t me.
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“It’s in the memory of Nicola, I’ve started with nine and I’ll keep going until each community in Essex, and who knows maybe on a more national basis, has access to a defibrillator.”
Nick worked with the manufacturer to include a picture of his late fiancé in every defibrillator he has provided for his local community.
The average defibrillator costs between £800 and £2,500, meaning for every five taxed by the Treasury, the VAT makes up the cost of a sixth.
Currently, the 20 per cent levy can only be claimed back when the kit is charitably donated or purchased by the likes of the NHS or a local authority.
Public access defibrillators have grown in number in the UK with an estimated 68,000, according to the Cardiac Coverage Report 2025.
But organisations including the British Heart Foundation (BHF) say availability should be better, with some areas of Britain being identified as ‘defibrillator deserts’.
According to the BHF there are more than 30,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests each year in the UK, but less than one in 10 people survive. Quick CPR and defibrillation can more than double the chance that someone’s life will be saved.
Neil Shastri Hurst, conservative MP for Solihull West and Shirley, who is a former trauma specialist in the NHS, told LBC: “It is unfair to disincentivise people who are trying to do a public good. This is a relatively small amount of money in Exchequer terms for what could have a significant long-term benefit on health outcomes.
“This is the sort of positive policy in terms of adjusting tax on what is essentially a lifesaving device.
“Unfortunately, in this country, 50% or more of community defibrillators are more than three to five minutes away [from where an emergency happens], and every minute counts when someone has had a cardiac arrest. The more defibrillators we can get out there the better, there are approximately 13 to 19 defibs per 10,000 population – that is far too low.”
LBC carried out analysis of a national database of defibrillators, The Circuit, and found Britain’s supermarkets alone forked out an estimated £6,700,000 on the devices, with VAT making up £1,300,000 of that.
Using current statistics of defibrillators available per 10,000 people in the UK, our figures could fund enough to cover at least Liverpool’s population – which only has an estimated 7.27 per 10,000.
Alex Kenney, head of government and external affairs at the British Heart Foundation said: “Alongside administering CPR, the early use of a defibrillator is a key link in the chain of survival and can more than double people’s chances of recovery after an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.
“We support calls for the removal of VAT from defibrillators. This can help ensure that these lifesaving units are as affordable and accessible as possible, so that communities across the UK can fund them and register them on The Circuit – the National Defibrillator Network.
“Use of a defibrillator can mean the difference between life and death, and while we have seen their numbers on The Circuit grow to more than 113,000 this year, we still need more. There are more than 40,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests in the UK each year, and tragically, fewer than one in ten people survive.”
The government has invested £500,000 into the community defibrillator fund which has paid for an extra 3,000 life-saving defibrillators
The Treasury declined to comment.