The head of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has written to the UK Government to demand that the visa status of nursing staff is not put at risk by upcoming changes to the rules.
Last month, the UK Home Office announced an increase to the minimum salary threshold for the Skilled Worker Visa, from £23,200 to £25,000.
“It will have devastating consequences for those affected”
Nicola Ranger
This change also applies to the Health and Care Visa, a sub-category of the Skilled Worker Visa, on which health and social care workers from overseas are typically brought into the UK.
The salary threshold changes are set to come into effect on 9 April.
The Home Office’s move has prompted concerns from unions including the RCN and Unison about the impact it could have on some of the lowest-paid NHS workers.
Due to delays to the 2025-26 Agenda for Change pay deal, which was supposed to be in place on 1 April, some NHS staff will be on salaries under the new Home Office threshold when the new rules come into effect next week.
Among those impacted are band 2 care workers, and entry-level band 3 healthcare assistants (HCAs), the latter of whom are, at the time of writing, paid £24,071 per year in England and Northern Ireland and £24,433 in Wales. In Scotland, band 3 workers earn above £25,000.
The unions have sought assurance that measures will be put into place to prevent these workers from having their visa status endangered because of a delay on the part of the government to implement a 2025-26 pay increase.
RCN chief executive and general secretary Professor Nicola Ranger, in a letter to home secretary Yvette Cooper, asked for “detail” on how the Home Office aimed to “bridge the gap” for workers who could be impacted.
She called for band 3 staff requiring visa renewals before the 2025-26 pay deal process is completed to be exempted from the new salary threshold.
Yvette Cooper
The RCN boss also asked Ms Cooper for information on what assessments had been made on the impact of the threshold increase on health and social care delivery in general.
“Nursing support worker roles… are critical to the delivery of safe and effective care,” Professor Ranger said in her letter.
She added: “If action is not taken by the Home Office and Department of Health and Social Care to address this gap, it will have devastating consequences for those affected.”
Professor Ranger said the changes would also impact social care staff, as well as those in the NHS, and could leave some care workers at risk of “destitution and exploitation”.
“I look forward to receiving your response and would welcome an opportunity to meet with you to discuss these issues alongside my concerns regarding the exploitation of migrant staff in the care sector,” she further said.
The RCN said it had already had been contacted by nursing staff airing concern about the impact the visa changes could have on them or their colleagues from overseas.
The exact details of the 2025-26 pay deal are yet to be published.
The RCN said there would be “significant ramifications” for the nursing workforce if the deal failed to raise care and support workers above the salary threshold going forward.
Helga Pile, head of health for Unison, said in a statement published earlier this week: “The NHS could lose essential staff recruited from overseas because pay rates are out of sync with the visa salary threshold.
“Trusts have been put in a terrible position and migrant workers whose visas are about to run out are being caused untold distress.”
A government spokesperson claimed that the “vast majority” of band 3 workers on the Health and Care Visa would not be impacted because by the time they come to renew, they would have gained enough experience to move to the top of band 3, which is above the new salary threshold.
The spokesperson added: “We value the vital work of all 1.5 million NHS staff which is why this government committed to improving the timetable for the pay round going forward – and why we delivered on that promise through our Plan for Change.
“We believe the vast majority of band 3 staff currently on a Health and Care Worker Visa will be unaffected by the salary threshold changes, but we will be happy to discuss any concerns with the RCN and other relevant stakeholders on an ongoing basis.”
