A Tory rebellion erupted today with warnings that the Government looks “mean-spirited and petty” for hiking a £400 fee charged to health and care workers from non-EU countries.
Three Conservative chairmen of Commons select committees and a string of backbenchers called on Boris Johnson to “think again” about the fee which is due to soar to £624 in October.
Public administration and constitutional affairs committee chairman William Wragg said “now is the time for a generosity of spirit towards those who have done so much good”.
Bob Neill, chairman of the justice select committee and MP for Bromley and Chislehurst, said: “My family have had direct experience of the work they do, as you can imagine.
"They make a vital contribution and we should show some generosity of spirit as a nation and also demonstrate to them that they are genuinely valued. It’s a small sum in the overall scheme of things.”
Education committee chairman Robert Halfon said: “I hope the Government thinks again on this surcharge, or, at the very least, comes up with a payment scheme to ensure that all those NHS workers who are on low pay have higher wages and a better standard of living.”
Former Conservative Party vice-chairman Sir Roger Gale who warned that not to waive the current surcharge “would rightly be perceived as mean-spirited, doctrinaire and petty”.
Clap for our Carers during lockdown: Thursday 14th May 2020
Former Conservative Party chairman Lord Patten has told 5Live it was “immoral and monstrous” that foreign NHS workers should be charged for healthcare.
“It’s appalling, it’s immoral,” he told Emma Barnett. “We depend in our care homes on people who come from other countries. I think this is monstrous that people who come from overseas to help and risk their lives in really difficult circumstances aren’t treated properly. There’s a basic sense of fair play in this country which I hope Mr Johnson will recognise.
“It would be madness and wickedness not to recognise the contribution which these people are making. It would be awful if we were to make people pay more when they are making such a big contribution to the well-being of older people in society.”
The uprising comes a day after Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer highlighted the burden placed on low-paid NHS and care staff by the charge in the Commons and announced he will table an amendment to the controversial Immigration Bill to exempt the care sectors.
Sir Keir said today: “It is grossly hypocritical to clap our carers one day and then charge them to use the NHS the next. Labour is calling for an end to this injustice and we would urge all Tory MPs who agree with us to back us.”
Doctors and nurses do not have to pay the charge, but lower-skilled NHS staff do, as do care home staff.
Jeremy Hunt, the former health secretary, opened a second front for the Prime Minister by linking the row with the Government’s Immigration Bill, which will restrict the numbers of lower-skilled workers from abroad available to care homes. “What this shows is how dependent the health and social care sectors are on frontline workers from abroad,” he said.
“Given the new immigration policy is going to make it harder for low-paid immigrants to come and help our health and social care sectors, it shows we need more than ever a 10-year plan for the social care sector, just as we have for the NHS.”
Mr Hunt, chairman of the health select committee, is not expected to back Labour’s amendment but is understood to have concerns about the affordability of the NHS charge for low-paid health workers.
Labour produced House of Commons library analysis which they said showed Mr Johnson got his figures wrong in the Commons by presenting £900 million as the annual revenue from the charge. The research said it was “in line with four years lumped together”. The portion paid by NHS and care staff is thought by Labour to be less than £100 million.
No 10 said the Prime Minster had explained his position in the Commons yesterday, where he said: “I do accept and understand the difficulties faced by our amazing NHS staff and, like him [Starmer], I’ve been a personal beneficiary of carers who have come from abroad and, frankly, saved my life.
“On the other hand we must look at the realities — this is a great national service, it’s a national institution, it needs funding and those contributions actually help us to raise about £900 million, and it’s very difficult in the current circumstances to find alternative sources. So, with great respect to the point he makes, I do think that is the right way forward.”
Security minister James Brokenshire said Mr Johnson was “right” to reject the calls on Wednesday as the issue is “complicated”. He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “The situation in relation to those people working within different functions in the NHS is more complicated because of the visa and immigration system that they are likely to be within.
Listen to The Leader: Coronavirus Daily podcast
“In other words, if you are a doctor and nurse then you are on a specific visa when we have that direct contact with the NHS trust. For those in social care, it is more disparate, which makes it more complicated and more challenging in terms of the situation.”
He added that the Government “continue to keep this under review”.
