IHPN Industry Barometer: State of the Sector 2025
Supported by
The Market – prospects
Our members were asked about their views about the future of all their key markets, looking at opportunities, challenges, and the impact of Net-Zero policies.
Self-pay continues to represent the greatest opportunities for future growth, cited by almost 6 in 10 of members. Respondents feel increasingly confident regarding company schemes, with the number of people viewing it as an opportunity almost doubling from last year – reflecting the increasing focus on occupational healthcare as part of Sir Charlie Mayfield’s “Keep Britain Working” Review.
Members are asked to pick three issues from a large list as their biggest challenges. Last year the impact of an increased NI contribution was by far the biggest concern faced by our members, with over half of respondents identifying it as an issue. This is in contrast to this year, where public finances, structural changes to the NHS, and NHS policy towards the sector are all identified by over half of our members as the greatest challenge facing the independent sector.
“It leaves a level of uncertainty and that then leads to battening down the hatches, because it’s with an uncertain future to income around contracts.”
Confidence levels regarding achieving net zero by 2035 remain high, with 63% confident or reasonably confident that their organisation will meet this ambitious target – a slight decrease from 69% last year, albeit with a decrease of those who feel not very confident. IHPN continues to provide support and subject matter expertise to our members through our wide-ranging programme of work around Net Zero.