Almost two-thirds of migrant nursing staff are considering leaving the UK because of cost of living pressures, according to a survey by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN).
In a new report, the RCN has urged the government to reduce visa fees and put an end to current rules that deny some migrant healthcare workers from accessing benefits.
Using results from a survey of its members, the RCN said nurses from overseas are twice as likely to report being in financial difficulty and nearly three times more likely to withdraw from their pensions due to living costs, when compared to their domestic counterparts.
Based on responses of more than 3,000 international nursing staff, a concerning 62% said they had considered leaving the UK and returning to their country of training due to the high cost of living.
The RCN also found that 30% of respondents were struggling with their living costs and were ‘increasingly worried’ about their financial situation. This was almost double the percentage of UK-trained staff who said the same (14%).
Meanwhile, one in five internationally educated respondents (20%) reported withdrawing or reducing contributions from their employer’s pension scheme over the last 12 months, compared to 7% of UK-trained staff who said the same.
As part of its report, the RCN has sounded the alarm over the impact of the ‘no recourse to public funds’ (NRPF) rule.
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The college is calling for the rule, which denies migrants on temporary visas such as the Health and Care Worker visa access to benefits, to be ended immediately.
The report said ‘many’ internationally educated nursing staff said the impact of the rule had left that with a ‘lack of support’ that had ‘compelled them to work longer hours to keep up with costs’.
Beverly Simpson works as a care home nurse in Derry. She is originally from Guyana but has worked in Northern Ireland for over 25 years.
She told Nursing in Practice that many overseas nurses – like herself – are single parents, or supporting other family members on their salary and ‘depend heavily on their collective migrant community for help’.
‘Opting out of pension comes as a survival tool, many will go back home at pension age and that money is needed now,’ Ms Simpson said.
The RCN is also urging the government to reduce visa fees, including Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) application costs.
Migrant nursing staff pay tax, but are unable to access benefits such as Universal Credit, Child Benefit, and Housing Benefit without ILR, leaving many nurses and their families at greater risk of poverty.
A single ILR application costs £2,885, meaning many migrants are stuck with a temporary visa status as they cannot afford the initial ILR application fee.
Rohit Sagoo, Queen’s Nurse and founder and director of British Sikh Nurses, told Nursing in Practice that ‘there are a lot of nurses that are struggling’ and warned that many internationally educated nurses (IENs) get stuck at band five without opportunities for career progression.
‘They’re [IENs] not progressing at all, they have the skills, they have the experience, but their prior accredited experience and qualifications isn’t taken into account,’ said Mr Sagoo.
‘They are having to turn to credit cards, or to other forms of financial support, and a lot of them are asking their parents for money.’
Mr Sagoo said that ‘some go without food’, adding that some members of the British Sikh Nurses group were reliant on the community kitchens in the gurdwara where they worship.
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‘Some nurses are even tempted to leave – to return to India or move to America, New Zealand or Australia instead,’ he said.
Dr Joan Myers, queen’s nurse and nursing consultant, echoed the concerns of Mr Sagoo, warning that IENs had been ‘sold a lie’.
‘They’re coming over here to get a better life, but they barely have enough to look after themselves,’ Dr Myers said.
The Migration Observatory estimates that at the end of 2022, as many as 2.6 million people in the UK held visas that typically have a NRPF condition, a sharp rise from the figure at the end of 2020 where 1.48 million people held visas which typically have an NRPF condition.
Patricia Marquis, executive director of RCN England, said: ‘Migrant nursing staff are part of the DNA of our health and care services, they always have been.
‘As it stands, the current system denies migrants access to vital benefits, despite them paying tax and doing the same work as their domestically trained colleagues.
‘The reality is that migrant nursing staff pushed into poverty will simply choose somewhere else to do their nursing – this is a tragedy for patient care.’
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She added: ‘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.’
Last week new data revealed that the Home Office approved 89,085 visas for the health and care sector in the year to June 2024, down more than 80% on April to June in 2023, with charities warning that the sector risks being unable keep pace with ‘even basic healthcare needs’.
A spokesperson for the department of health and social care said: ‘We hugely value the vital work that 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 it is not beaten, and that is testament to the brilliant efforts of the NHS workforce, and in turn, it is important that we can support them in every way we can. We have accepted the recommendations of the NHS Pay Review Body for pay for NHS staff, including nurses, for 2024/25.’
