Royal College of Nursing claims it is unfair that key workers from overseas are not eligible
The government has been urged to act to house the thousands of foreign workers it has parachuted in to shore up the country's ailing public services.

The Royal College of Nursing – which represents about 360,000 nursing staff in the UK – has branded the government stance "discriminatory". In particular, it feels the Starter Home Initiative is unfair because people from overseas are not eligible.

It said thousands of nurses working and living full-time in Britain were unable to get a foothold on the property ladder, while UK national colleagues were – and called this "unacceptable".

Claire Cannings, adviser to the Royal College of Nursing, said the group had been in touch with the government "several times" over the issue.

"These nurses are being discriminated against," she said. "Affordable housing needs to be made available for all nurses, including those from overseas.

"The government is effectively saying: 'We really want you in the UK but we're not going to treat you as well as your colleagues.'"

Royal College of Nursing figures show that, in the past three years, 30,000 non-UK nurses have registered to work in the UK. Of the 650,000 nurses in the UK, one in 12 are from outside the European Union. In London, where the need for extra public sector staff is at its most acute, almost three in 10 are recruited from outside the UK.

Graeme Moran, director of Metropolitan Home Ownership, which operates in London and the South-east, said: "We've had 1000 applications for housing under the SHI, but 20% of these have been turned down, largely because the applicants didn't have indefinite leave to remain and were therefore ineligible." He said the review of homeownership by Baroness Dean should address this problem.

"All the money spent bringing nurses and teachers into the country will be wasted if we don't think about how to provide permanent accommodation for these crucial workers," Moran added.

He was speaking in the wake of deputy prime minister John Prescott's launch of an advertising campaign to ensure the £250m available to housing associations is spent by March 2004.

Speaking in south London on Tuesday, Prescott also confirmed there would be a third round of funding to help key workers into homeownership. He declined to reveal how much would be available.

It is likely the next round will be based around two core models recommended by the Dean review. The present round of spending has been beset by difficulties. The government was forced to back-track on its 10,000 target to make more money available in response to rising house prices.

A spokeswoman for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister said: "Our approach in respect of the SHI is consistent with policy that recourse to public funds, including housing assistance and benefits, is generally restricted for people who do not have indefinite leave either to enter or remain in the UK.

"Public funding for SHI is provided with the aim of meeting our objective to help people into homeownership who are capable of sustaining it long term."

How the starter home initiative works

The £250m Starter Home Initiative operates in areas of high demand – mainly the South-east. It is run by associations who bid for funding to house key workers, principally nurses, teachers and police officers. Overseas staff are ineligible for the scheme unless they have worked in the UK for four years. As the government drive to deal with the staffing crisis in the NHS and schools only began properly in the past three years, most overseas staff who apply are rejected.

Source

Housing Today