Internationally educated nursing staff (IENs) have told the RCN that many of them plan to leave the UK because of low wages and the cost of living. They also told us their personal stories of the impact of a lack of access to benefits and discrimination at work.
Recently proposed immigration measures announced by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer could “accelerate an exodus of migrant staff”, Professor Nicola Ranger, RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive, said.
In her Congress keynote speech, Nicola called on the government to stop making life difficult for nursing staff who want to work in the UK. She said ministers should bring down immigration application costs, give IENs access to benefits and grant indefinite leave to remain to all nursing staff “without delay”.
We've sent our report to the Home Office and the Department of Health and Social Care.
We heard the views of more than 3,000 IENs working in the UK, with 42% saying they are planning to leave the country, in a report released at RCN Congress. This comes as the government announced plans to close the care worker visa route at a time of widespread vacancies in social care.
“Our report shows thousands of migrant nursing staff are ready to leave the UK. This situation is bad enough, but now the government’s cruel measures could do great damage to key services,” Nicola said.
Of those who planned to leave, 70% said better salary would influence their decision to stay in the UK, and 40% said immigration policy would be another important factor. The report also details shockingly normalised levels of discrimination faced by migrant nursing staff. Overall, two-thirds (64%) of respondents said they had experienced discrimination since moving to the UK.
Two-thirds of people told our survey they planned to leave the UK for a country other than their home nation.
Other countries offer faster and less expensive routes to indefinite leave to remain (ILR), giving migrant workers greater security. In the UK, those on a Health and Care Worker visa must currently wait a minimum of five years, paying yearly visa renewal costs and then more than £3,000 per person to apply for ILR.
Ministers have indicated they want to extend the wait to apply for indefinite leave to remain to 10 years, though we don’t know what this will mean for nursing staff.
Without ILR, those on temporary visas like the Health and Care Worker visa are blocked from accessing essential benefits – such as housing benefit, child benefit and Universal Credit – under a condition called no recourse to public funds (NRPF). The situation has left some resorting to food banks and charity assistance to make ends meet, with one telling us they were forced to send their baby back to their home country.
Nicola said that closing the care worker visa route and making migrant nursing staff wait longer to access vital benefits will create a “hostile environment on steroids”.
“They pay tax and work in our vital services, they deserve the same rights. Sadly, this government is intent on pushing people into poverty, away from the country, and with no credible plan to grow the domestic workforce in sight. Government must do all it can to get the next generation into nursing,” she continued.
"Rather than pandering and scapegoating, ministers should focus on what patients and vulnerable people need – safely staffed services. Without the measures we’re calling for, our amazing colleagues from overseas will continue to leave.”
