This petition was submitted during the 2019-2024 parliament
Rejected petition Scrap the immigration health surcharge for NHS staff and social care workers.
Immigrant NHS support staff and social care workers are among our low-paid workers, and they are in many cases risking their lives to protect us all from Covid-19. Yet they are being asked to pay a surcharge (which will increase to £624 in October) to use the NHS themselves.
More details
It is only the Government that can scrap this surcharge. What is the point in applauding our NHS staff and carers every week if we then demand that - out of their meagre salaries, on which they already pay taxes and national insurance - they pay a surcharge to use NHS services?
This petition was rejected
Why was this petition rejected?
We can't publish petitions when the request is something that's already happening or something that has been announced since you started your petition.
We think your petition is covered by Government or Parliament action already. If you'd like something else, you could start a new petition clearly explaining what it is.
Since you started your petition the Prime Minister has asked the Home Secretary and the Department of Health and Social Care to work together to exempt NHS and care staff from the immigration health surcharge.
We have published the following petition, which you might like to sign:
Reduce or scrap the immigration health surcharge for overseas NHS Staff: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/301948
Exempt overseas nurses from paying the Immigration Health Surcharge: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/301907
Reimburse international NHS workers the cost of the NHS surcharge this year: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/310628
You can find out more about coronavirus and how you can protect yourself and others here:
www.gov.uk/coronavirus
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/
The Government has also created an online service to help you find out what you can do if you’re struggling because of coronavirus: https://www.gov.uk/find-coronavirus-support
You can read NHS tips to help if you are worried about coronavirus here: https://www.nhs.uk/oneyou/every-mind-matters/coronavirus-covid-19-anxiety-tips
You can read impartial analysis of the Government response to coronavirus and policy developments here: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/coronavirus/
You may also be interested to know that because of the large number of petitions that have been started in relation to coronavirus, the Petitions Committee has been questioning the Government about its response to the coronavirus outbreak.
Find out more: https://committees.parliament.uk/work/192/the-governments-response-to-coronavirus/
We only reject petitions that don’t meet the petition standards.