Reform UK's proposed "migrant worker surcharge" — an annual levy on employers for every non-UK passport holder on their payroll, including EU nationals with settled status — would damage the NHS, social care, schools and universities, experts have warned. With roughly 20% of NHS England staff being non-UK nationals, the King's Fund health think tank cautioned the policy would "add costs to a service that is already stretched," while the Homecare Association warned that care providers could not absorb such charges, risking reduced home care access and increased hospital overcrowding. Education analysts added that the levy would hit shortage subjects like languages and physics particularly hard, and the Higher Education Policy Institute said it could, in extreme cases, push already financially struggling universities into insolvency — a scenario without precedent in the UK.