Visa extension deal must include NHS support staff

The Home Affairs Committee has said that the Home Office must end discrimination against social care and NHS support staff and include them in the visa extension scheme.

The committee has released a new report on immigration and visas and the Home Office's preparedness for coronavirus and stressed that excluding care workers and lower-paid NHS staff from the fee-free NHS visa extension scheme is unfair and fails to recognise the scale of their contribution to the UK fight against the pandemic.

Currently, a care worker, hospital porter or cleaner, working on the frontline of the coronavirus crisis, who needs to renew family visas this summer could be facing costs of thousands of pounds. The committee says that it cannot be right that, at a time when they are providing a vital and life-saving service for the country, non-UK health and care staff have to worry about their status and residency in the country.

The Home Affairs Committee also urges the government to go further in recognising the immense contribution of frontline health and care staff by setting out new arrangements to offer citizenship and permanent residency to those on temporary visas who have given so much during this crisis.

MPs further warn of the impact that the long-term economic consequences of Covid-19 will have on the wider visa system. With many in the UK on visas with conditions such as income requirements, it says that the government should examine how it can introduce flexibility to compensate for unexpected changes in circumstances during the pandemic.

Yvette Cooper, chair of the committee, said: "NHS staff and social care workers have been heroes on the frontline against Covid-19 and they shouldn't be having to wrestle with the immigration system or worry about their status or hefty visa renewal fees. Our NHS and social care system have relied on the contributions of those who have come from abroad throughout this crisis. Making the lowest paid of those workers pay thousands of pounds during the coronavirus crisis when they are helping and caring for everyone else is unfair and wrong.

"It is very welcome that the government has agreed to waive the Immigration Health Surcharge and extend the bereavement scheme for NHS and social care workers. However, most care workers and low-paid NHS support staff are still excluded from receiving the free one-year visa extension granted to clinical staff, and as a result could be facing costs of hundreds or thousands of pounds this summer.

"Excluding the care workers who hold dying residents' hands, the cleaners who scrub the door handles and floors of the Covid wards, or the porters who take patients to intensive care is just wrong. The government must ensure that all measures of support for NHS and care workers apply to all frontline staff equally, irrespective of grade or job title."