BMA calls for NHS staff to be exempt from immigration charge

The British Medical Association (BMA) has called on ministers to exempt health and social care professionals from an upcoming immigration charge to prevent the NHS budget losing out on millions.

The immigration skills charge applies an annual £1,000 visa charge to overseas staff coming to the UK on a Tier 2 visa. According to the government, the charge is designed to ‘reduce demand for migrant labour’ within the UK economy, however, the BMA has warned it would result in bodies such as NHS employing trusts and HEE (Health Education England) incurring substantial costs.

In a letter to home secretary Amber Rudd, BMA council chair Mark Porter and RCN (Royal College of Nursing) chief executive and general secretary Janet Davies warned that failing to exempt overseas health staff would strip frontline services of vital funds.

The letter said: “Given the ongoing pressures on both NHS and social care finances, the sustainability of services and the recruitment and retention of staff, we are asking you to exempt the NHS and the wider health and social care system from the ISC [immigration skills charge].

“It cannot be appropriate to divert funding away from the budget for front-line health services and the training of health professionals in this way. While the government has suggested that funds raised from the charge would be reinvested back into the UK workforce and health system, we have been given no guarantees to that effect.’

“While the secretary of state for health has outlined proposals to expand the supply of UK-trained doctors … the length of time taken to train a senior doctor will mean that the NHS will continue to be reliant upon doctors from the EU and overseas in the short to medium term.

“It is simply not possible to up-skill resident workers or put apprenticeships in place for doctors because of the long and rigorous training process involved and additional regulatory requirements. Checks and balances are already in place to ensure posts are first offered to UK and EU nationals through the resident labour market test.

“It is unfair therefore, to penalise health and social care employers for recruiting a doctor or a nurse on a Tier 2 visa to fill workforce gaps because a UK or EU national cannot be found to fill the post.

“There is a risk, given the existing pressures on the collective finances of our health and social care system, that the imposition of an additional financial burden will deter NHS employers from recruiting Tier 2 doctors.”