Code of practice published for the international recruitment of health and social care personnel

The Department of Health and Social Care has published a code of practice setting out the principles and best practice benchmarks health and social care employers and recruitment agencies must follow to ensure effective, ethical international recruitment.

Code of practice for the international recruitment of health and social care personnel in England

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The code of practice promotes high standards of ethical practice in the international recruitment and employment of health and social care personnel. It also sets out the UK’s approach to supporting health and social care systems and workforce, alongside safeguards on active recruitment from countries with the most pressing universal health coverage related health and social care workforce needs.

It is aimed at all health or social care organisations or recruitment agencies undertaking international recruitment.

It is based on the principles set out in the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel. It refers to the WHO Health Workforce Support and Safeguards List as the red list of countries that must not be actively targeted by health or social care recruiters unless there is a government-to-government agreement in place to allow managed recruitment on the terms of the agreement.

See also the collection page on government-to-government agreements on health and social care workforce recruitment for details of agreements between the UK and partner countries. The collection page will be updated regularly as new government-to-government agreements are signed. It is recommended that employers, contracting bodies and recruitment agencies regularly check the collection page for updates.