Boris backs down on £400 NHS fee for overseas staff
U-turn after Tory grandees label policy ‘immoral’
BORIS Johnson was forced into a U-turn last night as he scrapped fees charged to overseas health workers to use the NHS.
The Prime Minister had faced a Tory revolt, with party grandees warning he would look ‘mean- spirited and petty’ if he did not waive the ‘immoral’ levy.
As he backed down last night, Mr Johnson said he had seen first- hand the contribution made by migrant health and care workers.
He announced that all those working in the NHS and care sector, including porters and cleaners, would be exempt from the charge as soon as possible.
Workers from outside the European Economic Area are charged a fee of £400 a year to access NHS services, which is due to rise to £624 in October. It will also apply to EEA nationals moving to the UK from next year.
Leading Tory MPs and peers, including Jeremy Hunt who as health secretary introduced the charge, had joined calls for overseas health professionals and care workers to be exempted.
Lord Patten, the former chairman of the Conservative Party, called the Government’s position ‘appalling’ and ‘immoral’.
Speaking on the Emma Barnett Show on BBC Radio 5 Live, he said: ‘It is monstrous that people who come from overseas to help and risk their lives in really difficult circumstances aren’t treated properly. It would be madness and wickedness not to recognise the contribution which these people are making.’
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer had said he would seek to table an amendment to the Immigration Bill to exempt NHS staff and care professionals from the charge, warning ‘it is grossly hypocritical to clap our carers one day and then charge them to use the NHS the next’.
When Mr Johnson was questioned over the issue at Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, he defended the charge as the ‘right way forward’ and insisted that ‘we must look at the realities’ of how the health service needed to be funded.
But he faced growing pressure yesterday as Tory MPs, including William Wragg, the chairman of the public administration and constitutional affairs committee, warned they could back the Labour amendment.
Mr Hunt, the chairman of the health committee, told BBC Radio 4’s Political Thinking podcast: ‘I introduced the surcharge because I believe that the NHS is essentially funded by taxpayers and so it’s fair to ask people who are coming from overseas to make an additional contribution for the NHS.
‘But I happen to believe that given the sacrifices that we’ve seen during the coronavirus pandemic, low-paid frontline health and care workers need to be thought about differently and I think one of the ways that we could do this is by looking at that surcharge.’
Former Conservative Party vice- chairman Sir Roger Gale warned Mr Johnson that not to waive the surcharge ‘ would rightly be perceived as meanspirited, doctrinaire and petty’.
Figures from the Royal College of Nursing showed that nursing staff born overseas would have to work for a month to pay off the surcharge when it rises to £624 a year, with the cost per child increasing from £400 to £470. A newly qualified nurse with two dependents would be liable for a fee of £1,564 – the equivalent of four weeks’ pay.
A No 10 spokesman said: ‘Work by officials is now under way on how to implement the change and full details will be announced in the coming days. (The PM) has been a personal beneficiary of carers from abroad and understands the difficulties faced by our amazing NHS staff.
‘The purpose of the NHS surcharge is to benefit the NHS, help to care for the sick and save lives. NHS and care workers from abroad who are granted visas are doing this already.’
Sir Keir said Mr Johnson had been ‘right to have U-turned’.
Latest coronavirus video news, views and expert advice at mailplus.co.uk/coronavirus