U.K. city council is not spending £600,000 for private healthcare for refugees

Context

A claim that Nottingham City Council's recent approval of a £684,087 scheme will provide refugees and asylum seekers with private healthcare services circulated online.  

Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) users shared media reports with captions like "Nottingham: Council approves 5-year £684,000 contract for asylum seekers and refugees healthcare. Basically, private healthcare for migrants, paid for by taxpayers" (examples archived here and here). 

Other Facebook users remarked on the news, "Private healthcare budget for Nottingham's Asylum Seekers/Refugees" (archived here). 

However, Nottingham City Council confirmed to Logically Facts that the approved expenditure aims to improve asylum seekers' and refugees' access to public healthcare services, not private healthcare.

In fact

Nottingham City Council confirmed the expenditure does not concern private healthcare services.

The Council responded "no" after we asked if the £684,000 scheme provides or funds refugees, immigrants, or asylum seekers with private healthcare services. 

Instead, the expenditure is aimed at improving asylum seekers' and refugees' access to public healthcare services. 

"A service will be commissioned which will support people seeking asylum and refugees to access healthcare services such as registering with a GP or dentist, make healthcare appointments, access translation services as needed for their appointments, book in for maternity care, and obtain HC2 certificates", the council informed Logically Facts. 

The delegated decision document dated October 3 states the Council approved the £684,087 expenditure for a five-year period, starting from April 2025. It is funded from the ring-fenced public health grant and equates to a £136,817 expense per year. 

According to the expenditure decision, after a comprehensive review, the Council recognized asylum seekers, those refused asylum, and refugees as a "vulnerable group" who experience multiple barriers to accessing mainstream health services in the U.K. These include language barriers and limited understanding of NHS services. 

Nottingham City Council Public Health currently funds a similar health care scheme. For the last twelve years, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Refugee Forum (NNRF) has provided the "Into The Mainstream" service. It supports asylum seekers and refugees in accessing healthcare and translation services and registering with a GP and dentist.

The verdict

Nottingham City Council did not decide on a £684,087 scheme to provide private healthcare to asylum seekers and refugees. The Council confirmed the five-year expenditure aims to improve asylum seekers' and refugees' access to public healthcare services. Therefore, we marked the claim as misleading.