Health and social care personnel - international recruitment: updated code of practice

Code of Practice Red, Amber and Green Countries

The country red list in Annex A is drawn from the WHO Health and Workforce Support and Safeguards List 2023. These countries face the most pressing health workforce challenges related to universal health coverage (UHC).

Country identification follows the methodology contained in the 10-year review of relevance and effectiveness of the WHO Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel (A73/9). Consistent with the WHO global code of practice principles and articles and as explicitly called for by the WHO global code of practice 10-year review, the listed countries should be:

• Prioritised for health personnel development and health system related support
• Provided with safeguards that discourage active international recruitment of health personnel

Countries on the red list should not be actively targeted for recruitment unless there is a government-to-government agreement in place to allow managed recruitment undertaken strictly in compliance with the terms of that agreement. The agreement may set parameters, implemented by the country of origin, for how UK employers, contracting bodies and agencies recruit.

If a government-to-government agreement is put in place between the UK and a partner country, which restricts recruiting organisations to the terms of the agreement, the country is added to the UK’s amber list. If a country is not on the red or amber list, then it is green.

Green graded countries with government-to-government agreements in place are listed separately in Annex A.

Individuals from red or amber list countries can make a direct application to UK employers of their own accord. They must not be targeted by a third party, such as a recruitment organisation, agency or recruitment collaboration. Workforce flows from countries on the red and amber country lists will be monitored and, where trends indicate an increased level of recruitment activity, DHSC will work in partnership with FCDO to understand the causes and impact of this activity and consider taking appropriate supportive actions.

Red, amber and green grading of countries

Whether active recruitment is permitted from a country is determined by its red, amber or green grading as follows:

a) Red: No active recruitment permitted. Red countries are list in Annex A.

b) Amber: Managed recruitment permitted and undertaken strictly in compliance with the terms of the relevant government-to-government agreement approved by the Cross Whitehall International Recruitment for Health Steering Group. Active recruitment outside of the government-to-government agreement is not permitted. Amber countries are listed in Annex A.

c) Green: Active recruitment permitted. The UK government has several government-to-government agreements with green graded countries to set parameters for how UK employers, recruitment organisations, agencies, collaborations and contracting bodies recruit. Organisations are encouraged to recruit on the terms of the government-to-government agreement. Green graded countries that have government-to-government agreements with the UK are listed in Annex A.

Review of the List

The WHO Health Workforce Support and Safeguards List is reviewed every 3 years or sooner if required with the next update expected to be published in 2026. It is updated alongside the regular progress reports to the World Health Assembly on WHO Global Code of Practice implementation.

The Code of Practice red and amber country list may be updated on an ad hoc basis – for example, in response to new government-to-government agreements being signed. All agreements will take WHO guidance on bilateral agreements into account.