Unions unite with migrant organisations to call out government plan to fund pay rise with higher migrant fees

"All workers deserve decent pay, but this should never come off the backs of migrants, or be used to stoke division in our workforce & communities. We are proud to stand with 60 unions and migrant organisations calling on the Government to reverse its planned visa and NHS fee hikes! Read the statement"

No worker should be pushed into poverty, unsustainable debt, or homelessness simply because of the papers they hold.

Trade unions and migrant justice organisations have described the government’s decision to fund part of the public sector pay offer through substantial hikes to visa and migrant healthcare costs as ‘a blatant attempt to sow division within the labour movement and our communities’.

A statement signed by over 60 trade unions and migrant organisations, including the Social Workers Union (SWU), British Medical Association (BMA), National Education Union (NEU), NASUWT, and GMB expressed strong opposition to Rishi Sunak’s attempt to ‘pit worker against worker’.

The joint statement reiterated that public sector workers deserve pay rises but urged the government to abandon the current plan and instead meet pay demands using progressive taxation ‘which ensures those with the broadest shoulders contribute more to our vital public services’. 

This criticism comes after the government announced the offer of a 5 to 7% pay rise for the public sector, with pay for NHS staff part-funded by raising the ‘extortionate’ fees that migrants in the UK face, including a 20% increase in some visas and settlement fees and a 66% increase to the Immigration Health Surcharge, a discriminatory charge for migrants to pay extra for healthcare.

A migrant family of four currently has to pay around £50,000 over 10 years for the right to stay, which is set to increase to around £68,000. The joint statement has said that this further increase is ‘simply unaffordable’.

The migrant organisations and charities who signed include the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, Migrants Organise, Medact, the Runnymede Trust, the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, Doctors of the World, and Praxis. 

Prof Philip Banfield, Chair of Council at BMA, said:

‘The proposed increase in the charges on migrant health workers to pay for the government’s already-compromised pay deal is frankly shameful.

‘The Immigration Health Surcharge is an additional punitive tax on much needed overseas colleagues. The NHS should be funded from general taxation, not charges that unfairly target individual groups – that’s why we called for abolishing this tax completely. 

‘Claiming to use it to fund an inadequate pay offer is especially insulting. The government are pitting the public against each other, targeting one group to fund below-inflation offers for another when this country needs them desperately to help get the NHS back on its feet. 

‘This tax discriminates against immigrants by charging them upfront fees in the thousands along with months of additional bureaucracy and hoops to jump through. For medical colleagues wanting to be joined by family members in the UK this can be prohibitive, losing their skills to the NHS entirely.

‘I’m afraid that doctors won’t stand by while the government scapegoats immigrants for their own mismanagement of the NHS. We will continue to demand they come to the table with a responsible, credible pay offer – not one funded by divisive theatrical tricks like this.’

Kevin Courtney, Joint General Secretary at NEU, said:

‘Whilst we have been assured that the extra £900 million for the teachers’ pay award isn’t funded via the higher migrant fees, we do stand in complete solidarity with sister unions in their strong objections to the government seeking to sow divisions with this policy. The government should fund all our public services properly and proper funding should be viewed as an investment in our country.’

Aliya Yule, Access to Healthcare Organiser at Migrants Organise, said:

‘The NHS is indebted to migrants, and it was founded on the principle that everyone should be able to access healthcare, regardless of ability to pay or where you are from. The Immigration Health Surcharge undermines these principles, and it is important that the labour and migrant justice movements stand together in the face of this government’s attacks.’ 

Dr Roghieh Dehghan Zaklaki, a GP based in London, said:

‘To me, none of these policies are experienced in isolation. Together, they explicitly communicate my place as a second class citizen here and drive me further away from a sense of belonging to the UK. The ‘Illegal Migration Bill’ that will mainly affect non-white people like me, is hostile to the community I belong to, as is the NHS surcharge that again affects my immediate family, my loved ones. The increased costs of the surcharge mean I won’t be able to afford to support my mother to move here and will be forced to leave my job and my home to look after her.’

Caitlin Boswell, Policy and Advocacy Manager at Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants  said:

‘Migrant workers are the bedrock of our public services, they helped build and maintain the services our families and loved ones use everyday. All public sector workers desperately deserve a pay rise but migrant workers should not be footing the bill. Instead of further victimising people who have enriched our communities and country, this government should fund the public sector pay rise through taxing those corporations that are making millions from the cost of living crisis that is hitting people across the country.’

A second statement ‘against the use of racist charges’ was signed by nearly 3000 individuals, including Members of Parliament and the House of Lords, as well as trade union members, saying that increasing healthcare charges for migrants would further undermine the foundations the NHS was built on. They called the move ‘a clear attempt to make migrant communities pay the price for decades of Government underfunding of our public services, and declining pay’.

Trade Union and Migrant Organisations Statement #TogetherAgainstCharging

As trade unions and migrant organisations, we stand against this Government’s attempts to pit worker against worker. We know that an injury to one is an injury to all.

All workers deserve decent pay, safe working conditions and protections if our bosses seek to take advantage of us. Public sector workers deserve pay rises, but we strongly oppose any decision to fund this by further taxing migrants, by hiking visa costs and NHS fees. This is a blatant attempt to sow division within the labour movement and our communities. 

Increasing the Immigration Health Surcharge by 66% and increasing visa costs will push ever more people into destitution and poverty. The UK already effectively taxes migrants twice for healthcare, and has some of the most extortionate visa fees in Europe – a migrant family of four often has to pay around £50,000 over 10 years for the right to stay. This massive increase is simply unaffordable – it will price workers out of being able to afford a visa and force thousands further into poverty during the cost of living crisis, or out of the country.

Migrant workers are a vital part of our communities and our workforce. They are the backbone of our public services, and our migrant members already face the hostility of the immigration system. No worker should be pushed into poverty, unsustainable debt or homelessness simply because of the papers they hold.

We urge the Government to abandon its plans to increase NHS and visa fees for migrants and meet the pay demands of our public sector workers through progressive taxation which ensures those with the broadest shoulders contribute more to our vital public services.  

Signatories of the statement: 

  1. British Medical Association 
  2. The GMB 
  3. NASUWT – The Teachers’ Union 
  4. The National Education Union (NEU) 
  5. Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS)
  6. UCU – University and College Union
  7. Society of Radiologists
  8. Social Workers Union 
  9. Fire Brigades Union (FBU) 
  10. ASLEF 
  11. BFAWU
  12. International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF)
  13. Asylum Matters
  14. Black Europeans 
  15. Bradford Rape Crisis
  16. CARAG 
  17. CARIS Haringey
  18. Caritas Shrewsbury
  19. Doctors of the World 
  20. Duhra Solicitors
  21. English for Action (EFA) London
  22. Evesham Vale Welcomes Refugees 
  23. Fresh Grassroots Rainbow Community 
  24. Focus on Labour Exploitation: FLEX
  25. Gatwick Detainees Welfare Group
  26. Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit (GMIAU)
  27. Haringey Welcome
  28. Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI)
  29. Kent Refugee Help
  30. Kiran Support services
  31. Latin American Women’s Rights Service (LAWRS)
  32. Lewisham Refugee and Migrant Network (LRMN)
  33. Leeds Anti-Raids Action
  34. Maternity Action
  35. Maternity Stream, City of Sanctuary UK
  36. Medact
  37. Migrants At Work
  38. Migrant Democracy Project
  39. Migrant Voice
  40. Migrants Organise
  41. Migrants’ Rights Network
  42. Music Action International
  43. Pan-African Workers Association (PAWA)
  44. Paul Hamlyn Foundation 
  45. POMOC (Polish Migrants Organise for Change)
  46. Positive Action For Refugees and Asylum Seekers (PAFRAS)
  47. Praxis
  48. Project 17
  49. Public Interest Law Centre
  50. RAMA (Refugee, Asylum seeker & Migrant Action)
  51. Refugee and Migrants Forum of Essex and London (RAMFEL)
  52. Refugee, Asylum Seeker and Migrant Action (RAMA)
  53. Reunite Families UK
  54. Right to Remain
  55. Runnymede Trust
  56. Seraphus
  57. South London Refugee Association
  58. South Yorkshire Refugee Law & Practice 
  59. The Unity Project
  60. The Voice of Domestic Workers
  61. United impact
  62. We Belong 
  63. Welsh Refugee Council
  64. Women’s Budget Group
  65. Yorkshire Migrants Solidarity Movement
  66. The3million