London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Sep 18, 2025

NHS trusts wrongly billing vulnerable migrants for maternity care, says charity

NHS trusts wrongly billing vulnerable migrants for maternity care, says charity

Maternity Action says some trusts taking harsh approach, and calls for suspension of charging for migrants
NHS trusts are wrongly hounding vulnerable migrant women for payment of bills of thousands of pounds for maternity care, according to a report.

While some women who have been trafficked, persecuted in their home countries or subjected to domestic violence in the UK have found themselves saddled with bills of several thousand pounds that they are unable to pay, others are avoiding accessing maternity care at all, putting themselves and their babies at risk, because they fear the financial cost.

The report, Breach of Trust: incorrect implementation of the overseas charging regulations by NHS trusts in England, from the charity Maternity Action, is calling on the government to suspend maternity charging for migrants, after finding multiple examples of trusts wrongly billing extremely vulnerable migrant women for their maternity care. The Royal College of Midwives has joined the charity in condemning the NHS charging policy for this group of migrant women.

While “hostile environment” rules say that migrant women must be charged at 150% of the rate charged to NHS clinical commissioning groups that purchase maternity care from hospital trusts, there are exceptions for certain vulnerable groups such as trafficked women, asylum seekers and women who are destitute. However, different NHS trusts interpret the guidance in different ways, with some taking a harsher approach than others.

One woman who was hospitalised when she was heavily pregnant after a serious domestic violence attack by her partner was told by the NHS trust that billed her for maternity care that she did not qualify for a charging exemption as a victim of domestic violence because the attack was a “one-off”.

Another woman, Ann, was told she would be billed for her maternity care hours after the death of her baby, who was born at 28 weeks, five years ago. She is challenging bills of more than £9,000 relating to the baby who died and the birth of a second child from two different London hospitals.

“I didn’t attend any antenatal appointments because at the time I was undocumented and I didn’t know if I would have to pay,” she said. “When I was 28 weeks pregnant I experienced severe pain and went to hospital. My daughter was born and only lived a few hours.

“While I was still recovering in hospital, I was told I would be charged for the birth and that every night I stayed in hospital would be an extra charge. I got the bill before I could even bury my daughter. The debt is lingering and my life is like a rollercoaster. I often can’t afford to eat and don’t know how my child and I will survive. I wish someone would come to my aid.”

The report raises concerns about the aggressive way some NHS trusts go about recouping the money. “We are finding the language used in communications to patients are overtly hostile and not in the spirit of patient-centred care which the NHS strives to achieve,” it states.

Ros Bragg, the director of Maternity Action, said: “We’ve found multiple examples of women being charged when they should be exempt and of NHS trusts aggressively chasing payments of women who are clearly destitute and have no means to pay.

“It’s hard to overstate the impact of maternity charging on the health of mothers and their babies. Our advice lines are full of terrified women, scared to go to antenatal appointments in case they are charged, even if they’re supposed to be exempt.”

Clare Livingstone, a professional policy adviser at the Royal College of Midwives, said: “Charging these women is not only wrong, it is dangerous. There must be no barriers that prevent or makes these women fearful of coming to our maternity services for the care they need.

“Midwives should not be pressured into reporting women’s immigration status. Their job and their focus must be on giving these women the safest and best possible care.”

Dr Edward Morris, the president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said: “Under no circumstances should migrant women be charged by the NHS to access maternity care. These women are already extremely vulnerable. Often they will have complex clinical and social needs and they are already at higher risk of poorer maternal and neonatal outcomes.”

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “Our health service is taxpaye- funded and everyone plays a part in supporting it. It is right that overseas visitors help contribute towards treatment costs. We recognise any healthcare costs can create challenges and there are important exemptions for certain types of care, as well as vulnerable groups like asylum seekers and victims of modern slavery.

“The law is also clear that immediately necessary treatment – including all maternity services – must never be delayed or withheld, regardless of whether someone can pay.”
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Massive Strikes in France Pressure Macron and New PM on Austerity Proposals
Trump Seeks Supreme Court Permission to Remove Fed Governor Lisa Cook
Hillary Clinton’s Reckless Rhetoric Fuels Division After Charlie Kirk’s Assassination
NASDAQ Rises to Record as Intel Soars More Than 20%, Nvidia Gains 3%
Nvidia’s $5 Billion Bet on Intel Reshapes AI Hardware Landscape
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Trump’s Quip on Biden and Google Lawsuit Revives Debate Over Antitrust Legacy
Macron and his wife to provide 'scientific photographic evidence' that she is a real woman
US Tech Giants Pledge Billions to UK AI Infrastructure Following Starmer's Call
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
DeepMind and OpenAI Achieve Gold at ‘Coding Olympics’ in AI Milestone
SEC Allows Public Companies to Block Investors from Class-Action Lawsuits
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Federal Reserve Cuts Rates by Quarter Point and Signals More to Come
Effective and Impressive Generation Z Protest: Images from the Riots in Nepal
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Trump: Cancel quarterly company reports and settle for reporting once every six months
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
US Launches New Pilot Program to Accelerate eVTOL Air Taxi Deployment
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Hong Kong Industry Group Calls for HK$20 Billion Support Fund to Ease Property Market Stress
Joe Biden’s Post-Presidency Speaking Fees Face Weak Demand amid Corporate Reluctance
Charlie Kirk's murder will break the left's hateful cancel tactics
Kash Patel erupts at ‘buffoon’ Sen. Adam Schiff over Russiagate: ‘You are the biggest fraud’
Homeland Security says Emmy speech ‘fanning the flames of hatred’ after Einbinder’s ‘F— ICE’ remark
Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Assassin Tyler Robinson Faces Death Penalty as Charges Formally Announced
Actor, director, environmentalist Robert Redford dies at 89
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
JD Vance Says There Is “No Unity” with Those Who Celebrate Charlie Kirk’s Killing, and he is right!
Trump sues the 'New York Times' for an astronomical sum of 15 billion dollars
Florida Hospital Welcomes Its Largest-Ever Baby: Annan, Nearly Fourteen Pounds at Birth
U.S. and Britain Poised to Finalize Over $10 Billion in High-Tech, Nuclear and Defense Deals During Trump State Visit
China Finds Nvidia Violated Antitrust Laws in Mellanox Deal, Deepens Trade Tensions with US
US Air Force Begins Modifications on Qatar-Donated Jet Amid Plans to Use It as Air Force One
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
Elon Musk Retakes Lead as World’s Richest After Brief Ellison Surge
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
London Daily Podcast: London Massive Pro Democracy Rally, Musk Support, UK Economic Data and Premier League Results Mark Eventful Weekend
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Musk calls for new UK government at huge pro-democracy rally in London, but Britons have been brainwashed to obey instead of fighting for their human rights
Elon Musk responds to post calling for the murder of Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk: 'Either we fight back or they will kill us'
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
USA: Office Depot Employees Refused to Print Poster in Memory of Charlie Kirk – and Were Fired
Proposed U.S. Bill Would Allow Civil Suits Against Judges Who Release Repeat Violent Offenders
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
×