Observer investigation uncovers NHS trusts and private care homes charging staff who leave to recoup recruitment costs
Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty ImagesPhotograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty ImagesInternational nurses working fortrusts and private care homes are being trapped in their jobs by clauses in their contracts that require them to pay thousands of pounds if they try to leave.
Parosha Chandran, a barrister and UN expert on human trafficking who helped shape the UK’s modern slavery laws, likened the clauses to “debt bondage” and called for them to be reviewed at the highest level. “This gives rise to very serious concerns about exploitation,” she said.Patricia Marquis, director for England at the Royal College of Nursing, said she was “very concerned” by a practice which flourished “in a climate of chronic understaffing”.
Patricia Marquis, director for England at the Royal College of Nursing, said charging fees to nurses who leave flourished “in a climate of chronic understaffing”., used in an NHS hospital trust in the east of England, says international nurses must repay unspecified “costs related to [their] recruitment” if they leave within three years. Those leaving within 18 months must repay “100%” of the costs.
She said it was unfair for employers to pass recruitment costs on to workers, when hiring internationally can save them huge sums.
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