A Prospect Hospice director welcomed a government £200m funding boost for hospices – but warned that the devil was in the detail.

Warren Finney, director of community engagement at the Wroughton-based hospice, said the lockdown had resulted in the charity losing three quarters of its income as its shops closed and fundraising events were cancelled.

He told the BBC that the announcement by Chancellor Rishi Sunak on Wednesday that hospices would receive £200m was “clearly brilliant”.

“We want to thank the chancellor for that, absolutely. But that’s £200m divided by around 300 hospices across the country. As I sit here today as the old phrase goes the devil’s in the detail,” he said.

“I don’t know what that means for Prospect Hospice. What I do know is that we’ve dramatically increased our services and the costs that go along with that and our income has massively shrunk.”

Mr Finney added: “For us, in effect overnight, we closed all of our shops, we paused most of our fundraising events, and in effect turned the tap off on £5.5m worth of income in one shot and we don’t know when we can turn that back on again.”

He said more people were being cared for by the charity at home rather than in the hospice.