Responding to Labour leader Keir Starmer’s proposal at Prime Minister’s questions today (Wednesday) that health and care staff should be exempted from the immigration health surcharge, UNISON assistant general secretary Christina McAnea said:

“Dealing with the pandemic has shown more than ever how NHS and care services rely on staff from overseas. It beggars belief that we’re making them pay extra to work here and keep us safe.

“Workers who come to the UK pay for the services they use through tax and national insurance. This fee should be scrapped completely but exempting health and care staff would be a good first step.”