They came to fill gaps in a sector desperate for staff. Now an Observer investigation finds Indian nurses stuck in debt and despair, and wounded by broken promises
Workers have in some cases been housed in shared accommodation that is dirty or lacks basic facilities such as a fridge after paying £550 a month up front, it’s alleged. Others are said to have been promised English lessons which they have not received.
He said the whistleblower testimony suggested they were being “exploited in India during recruitment and then in the UK during employment”. “They are probably being promised all sorts of things and there is a form of exploitation in that they’re not being given what they were told they would receive,” he said.
Rather than hiring workers directly from India, the company is understood to have contracted Harley Medical, which in turn engaged another agency, Care2Nurse, to help it source many of the candidates. Had they been hired to work as NHS nurses directly, the costs of the exams and preparation needed to get their licence to practise in the UK would probably have been paid by the health service, which has been allocated £7,000 for each recruit.
As well as a ban on charging workers fees to find them jobs, the law prohibits agencies from charging for services such as training and CV writing which workers are given no true choice but to pay.Care2Nurse did not respond to repeated requests for comment via email and phone. Harley Medical said: “We receive no fee from any candidate or any agency representing any candidate. Our only income comes as a nominal introduction fee from the employer for each candidate introduction.
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