Petition · past parliament

Abolish the Immigration Health Surcharge for NHS workers

Rejected 14 signatures

What the petition asks

Foreign NHS workers are an asset to their communities, not a burden. While providing invaluable contribution to the NHS it is unacceptable that they must pay £624 annually for themselves and their family to access the very service to which they dedicate their working lives. The IHS must be scrapped.
The charge for foreign NHS workers is a perverse deterrent to the staff we desperately need to sustain the NHS. Against the backdrop of the Covid 19 pandemic, which has seen disproportionate impact on BAME and foreign born NHS workers this grave injustice has been thrown into stark relief.

The founding principle of the NHS is provision of universal healthcare free at the point of need.The Immigration Health Surcharge must therefore be scrapped beginning with NHS workers and their dependents.

Why it was rejected

There was already a petition about this issue. Duplicates are rejected so signatures collect in one place.

Timeline

16 May 2020 Petition opened for signatures
29 May 2020 Rejected by the Petitions Committee

Key facts

Signatures 14
Status Rejected
Rejected 29 May 2020

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Source: the official petition page. Last checked 15 Jul 2026.