Responding to the Migration Advisory Committee’s rapid review of the new Immigration Salary List, Professor Pat Cullen, RCN General Secretary & Chief Executive, said:
“These recommendations risk driving away overseas nursing staff from the health and care sector, just as services grapple with chronic workforce shortages.
“If implemented without exemptions for part-time workers, the visa minimum salary threshold would put international nurses who work reduced hours due to disabilities or caring responsibilities at risk of breaking the terms of their visa. This would amount to an attack on women in a female-dominated profession. There is no evidence of an equalities impact assessment, which we now seek, alongside immediate assurances that any new minimum salary threshold will be implemented pro-rata for part time staff.
“This week, the government announced a further tearing apart of families to score political points, today it’s preparing to target migrants who work reduced hours in our NHS and social care sector. Ministers need to realise that investment, not anti-migrant politics, is what improves care and outcomes for patients.”
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