Professor Dame Donna Kinnair, Acting Chief Executive and General Secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, commenting on the Government’s announcement that it will waive the £65 settled-status fee for EU nationals,said:
"The government’s decision to waive the settled status fee is welcome news, not only for EU nurses who can do without the expense but also the financially challenged NHS Trusts who saw paying the fee as the best way to keep hold of their EU staff.
"With 41,000 nursing vacancies in England the NHS cannot afford to lose any more of its highly-valued EU nurses, who in some Trusts make up as many as one in four of the workforce.
"Nursing colleagues from Europe should never have had to pay for the privilege of living in the UK and working in our health service. We are pleased that the government has arrived at the same conclusion."
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