The health and care sector is facing additional pressure over staffing and skills caused by rules that prevent migrant workers accessing benefits, in some cases leaving people without food.
A new Royal College of Nursing (RCN) report has claimed that two-thirds of migrant nursing staff are considering leaving the UK because of the cost of living.
Their financial plight stems from low wages coupled with the “no recourse to public funds” (NRPF) rule, which denies migrants on temporary visas access to benefits.
The RCN claimed that the impact of the rules was such that migrant nursing staff with health and care worker visas were more than twice as likely as those educated in the UK to be struggling financially.
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The RCN report, Without A Safety Net, calls for NRPF rules to be “ended immediately”.
Based on survey responses of over 3,000 international nursing staff, the report revealed that overseas workers were twice as likely as domestic colleagues to report being in financial difficulty (30% versus 14%).
Migrants on temporary visas were unable to gain benefits such as universal credit, child benefit, and housing benefit leaving them and their families at a much greater risk of poverty, found the report.
To gain access to these beneifts, migrants need to have been working in the UK for at least five years, when they can apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain at a cost of £2,885 – a fee that is out of reach for many workers.
The RCN called for an end to this unequal treatment, which it said saw overseas workers pay tax alongside UK colleagues, without any rights to the same benefits.
Eight calls were received each week to the RCN advice line from migrant nursing staff in financial difficulties, the college said. These included calls from those diagnosed with cancer and ineligible for sickness or disability benefits.
Recent data from the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) shows that the number of migrant nursing staff with intentions to leave the UK hit 8,931 in 2022/23, more than 14 times higher than in 2018/2019. The nursing union has warned that more will leave to other countries for better salaries and welfare support.
Executive director for RCN England, Patricia Marquis, said: “Migrant nursing staff are part of the DNA of our health and care services, they always have been. Every day patients in our hospitals and communities rely on their outstanding care, and they deserve to be treated equally to those educated in the UK.
“Ministers must lead from the front and show that migrant nursing staff are welcome here and have the same value as their domestic colleagues. The no recourse to public funds condition applied to migrant workers must be ended immediately.”
Figures released by the Home Office last week (22 August 2024) showed that 89,085 visas for the health and care sector were granted in the year to June 2024 – more than 80% down on April to June of the year before.
One immigration lawyer told Personnel Today that the trend could cause a “skills catastrophe” for health services.
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