The health surcharge
UNISON has campaigned for years against the unfairness of the IHS
The health surcharge is fundamentally flawed
The Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) is the extra contribution that migrant workers and their families have to make to the NHS, in addition to paying their taxes. The surcharge was introduced in 2015 at £200 a year. By 2023, the Government announced a rise to £1035 per adult.
UNISON has campaigned for years against the unfairness of the IHS.
Why should the surcharge be dropped?
If someone comes to work in the UK on a three-year-visa, with a partner and two children, they will have to find an extra £6,564 (£624 x two adults plus £470 x two children for three years) on top of their visa fees.
One healthcare assistant nurse recently told us that she and her care worker husband work all hours possible to provide for their three children, aged 13, nine and three.
Owing to their immigration status and having no recourse to public funds, the family is not eligible for any state aid, or child benefit.
During COVID-19, we highlighted the financial and administrative pressures on health and social care staff to politicians, civil servants and the public. The government announced that health and social care staff would be exempt from paying the IHS; however, the implementation of this exemption was deeply unfair, placing the lowest-paid staff under the most pressure.
Nearly all health and social care staff will have to pay upfront and then be reimbursed over time. UNISON wants to exempt all health and social care staff from the surcharge.
Workers from other countries play an important role in helping to deliver healthcare in the UK.
NHS staff shortages are a real problem and international recruitment remains vital to achieving the overall staffing numbers needed. It’s now harder to recruit staff from abroad for many reasons, including the immigration health surcharge.
What can I do?
Talk to us
Contact the JCWI
Related news
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Scrapping of NHS surcharge for migrant health and care workers ‘long overdue’
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Press release
Greater clarity needed from PM on plans to scrap immigration health surcharge
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