The UK left the European Union on Friday 31 January. The UK is now in a transition period until December 2020.
Whilst it is not clear what the future situation will be as the exit negotiations get fully underway, the Royal College of Occupational Therapists (RCOT) is continuing to monitor developments and consider how RCOT members, and the services they provide, might be impacted.
Occupational therapists in independent practice will also need to consider these issues in relation to their own service delivery.
Approximately 1,800 RCOT members are EU/EFTA citizens. We strongly advise any occupational therapists from the EU/EFTA area who are currently working in the UK to ensure they are registered with the EU Settled Status scheme.
The Government has signaled that EU citizens will be treated in the same way as non-EU citizens after the transition period. Therefore, they are likely to be subject to rules that currently do not apply to them, such as those of the Tier 2 Visa. We will update members as soon as we more information on this.
Until December 2020, it is likely that little will change in the day-to-day lives of RCOT members as the UK negotiates a new relationship with the EU.
However, RCOT will provide further updates as more details of the relationship with the EU emerge and in the meantime, will continue to:
- Work closely with European partners in the Council of Occupational Therapists for European Countries (COTEC) to raise the profile of occupational therapy, and to highlight best practice, develop and implement policy and projects across the continent.
- Work closely with other organisations, particularly HCPC, to monitor workforce figures and the impact of Brexit and whether this will lead to a decrease in numbers.
- Monitor information regarding how UK-based occupational therapy researchers will be able to access pan-European funding.
- Monitor whether and when EU students might be impacted by changes to fee structures (for example, the need to pay international rather than home student fees).
- Monitor the potential impact on ERASMUS and ERASMUS+ opportunities and whether the UK will be part of ERASMUS after the transition period.
Please check this page for further updates and follow RCOT on Twitter: