Overseas NHS nurses are being ‘pushed into poverty’ by rules which deny many people who come to the UK to work their social security benefits for five years after arriving.
According to a report by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), they are forced to borrow money, run up credit card debt and go without food because they cannot make ends meet.
The nurses are on temporary visas, meaning they are subject to a “no recourse to government funds” rule that prohibits them from claiming child benefit, housing benefit and universal credit for at least five years before they can apply for indefinite leave to remain.
The RCN is urging ministers to abolish the rule, which it says is unfair because nurses trained abroad are unable to claim benefits despite paying income tax and national insurance.
The report, based on a survey of more than 3,000 overseas nurses, warns the policy “punishes” people for coming to work in the UK and “risks a mass exodus of international nursing staff”. The understaffed health service already has around 40,000 nursing vacancies.
A nurse said: “I have to borrow money from people. Sometimes I have to go without food. I have to rely on (my) violent ex (partner).”
Another said: “I used to have to run up credit card debt and work more weekend and night shifts. That meant being away from my child and relying on friends to help with childcare in the evenings and on weekends.”
A third said the inability to access benefits discriminates against immigrants because: “It’s another way of saying, ‘We care less about your well-being, but are more interested in what you have to offer our society.’”
Last Friday the United Nations said that it also wanted the rule for migrants to be abolished.
In a report on people of colour in the UK, the Commission on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination recommended that “the state party (the UK government) should review the rule on no recourse to public funds and ensure that this does not expose migrant households to a higher risk of poverty and insecurity”.
Patricia Marquis, RCN director for England, said: “As things stand, the system is denying migrants access to essential services, despite them paying taxes and doing the same jobs as their domestically trained colleagues.
“The reality is that migrant nurses who are pushed into poverty simply choose to do their nursing elsewhere. This is a tragedy for patient care.”
The NHS has become even more reliant on overseas staff in recent years. One in three nurses and community nurses and 36% of doctors in England are now non-British nationals, although figures released last week Research shows the total number of visas issued to healthcare workers by the Home Office in the year to June was 80% lower than the same period a year earlier, after immigration rules were tightened.
A government spokesman did not immediately comment on the RCN’s findings or the call for change, but praised NHS staff and stressed that nurses were likely to get a pay rise this year.
They said: “We value the vital work our nurses do day in, day out to care for patients. We recognise that people are still struggling with the cost of living, which is why this Government wants to restore economic stability.
“The NHS is broken but not defeated, and that is a testament to the brilliant efforts of NHS staff, and in turn it is important that we can support them in every way we can. We are currently considering the NHS Pay Review Body’s recommendations for the pay of NHS staff, including nurses, for 2024-25.”