Updated JDC statement on doctors requiring permission to work in the UK
5 May 2006
Following the meeting on Tues 18 April with representatives of the Dept of Health (DH) and the Home Office (HO), JDC is issuing further information about the situation regarding doctors who require permission to work in the UK.
At the meeting, all parties agreed that the process of introducing the changes to the work permit regulations including the abruptness with which they have been implemented, could have been managed in a way that was more sympathetic to the impact that they would have on people.
The difficulties that people are facing were discussed at length and strong representations made by the BMA on behalf of those affected. The plight of those part-way through their training with certain career expectations and the need to achieve specific training milestones was raised as a great concern. there seemed to be some room to explore ways to help this group of doctors. However, some questions could not be answered immediately as the HO needed furthr data to be able to give a definitive answer, but the representative from the HO agreed to provide the answers as soon as possible.
The BMA asked many questions about how the new regulations should be interpreted and some further points and answers that were established are as follows:
- We were told that transitional arrangements are in place for people on permit free training who are in post or on an SHO or SpR rotation, but whose permit free status expires before the end of the post. These people can transfer to work permit employment without the employer needing to re-advertise the post, provided that work permit application is submitted by 31 December 2006. Leave to remain for people with work permits in this situation should then be honoured.
- There are restrictions on the categories of immigration status from which an individual can switch to work permit employment without leaving the UK. Dependants of work permit holders or individuals on the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme (HSMP) will not usually be able to switch to work permit employment without leaving the UK to apply for their further leave to remain as a work permit holder.
- JDC alerted the DH to the fact that many trusts are using recruitment practices which are not in line with the new regulations (e.g. confusing people who have qualified from an overseas medical school and who have taken the PLAB test with those who need permission to work in the UK, when these are totally unrelated things). The DH regretted that this was happening, and agreed to issue new, more prescriptive guidance on recruitment procedures as soon as possible.
- Further to this, it was agreed that new nomenclature would be needed because using the acronym “IMGs” (international medical graduates) was misleading. The doctors who are affected by this are not those who qualified at a medical school overseas necessarily, but simply those who need permission to be employed in the UK.
- When it comes to shortlisting, the DH has a legal opinion which suggests it is acceptable for applicants to be divided into two groups, the first being those who have permission to work in the UK (either because they are UK or EEA citizens, have indefinite leave to remain, or have limited leave to remain to finish the contract), and the second being those who would require a work permit or have insufficient leave to remain to finish the contract. The doctors in the first group would be considered first for shortlisting, and the second group would be considered only if no-one from the first category was found to be suitable for appointment for whatever reason. This would often mean a second round of interviews, but not a second round of applications.
- Refugee doctors who have indefinite leave to remain should be treated in line with UK/EEA candidates. We are awaiting further information from the HO about refugee doctors who have limited leave to remain.
- NHS Employers has issued guidance stating that unless doctors have sufficient leave to remain, for example those on the highly skilled migrant programme (HSMP), to complete the post that they are applying for an employer must assume that they might require a work permit. We are aware that this is not in line with the information being provided by Work Permits UK and are currently addressing this anomaly. For further information on this please see the BMA's update for doctors on the HSMP.
- Although the removal of the permit-free training system has happened now, the introduction of the points-based managed migration system of tiers of entry will be introduced gradually, tier by tier, over a number of years.
We are also awaiting our own legal opinion on what the correct practices for recruitment shuld be under the new regulations.
We have written to the Minister for Health, Lord Warner, about the problems being caused by the contrary opinions and advice given by the HO about the status of those with leave under HSMP. We have also written to the Minister of State (Immigration, Citizenship and Nationality), Tony McNulty asking that overseas doctors graduating from UK medical schools be exempt from the new regulations, and allowed to complete their postgraduate training in the UK under permit-free status.