Unpaid healthcare students on placement in Covid wards cannot book paid work in non-Covid areas whilst on placement. This means that the number of paid healthcare assistant shifts available to these students is very limited compared to usual. It is only fair that these students are paid for their 40 hour weeks working on Covid wards to make up for this loss in income. In the first wave of Covid-19 the government was paying student nurses roughly £10-11 per hour. Now we are not being offered anything, despite being recognised as an important part of the response to the pandemic. I am a student nurse and I will not be able to book paid shifts in non-Covid areas until February. That’s over two months with very little to no paid work. I am concerned that more student nurses than ever will be forced to drop out of university due to financial instability and we really need more nurses in the UK. Thank you for taking the time to read about this cause.