Work the World: Students lose money in placement row

Charlotte Hickman set up a Facebook support group with more than 70 members after hearing of others affected

Medical students have lost thousands of pounds after being refused refunds for foreign training placements thwarted by the coronavirus pandemic.

They had paid for volunteer placements in hospitals in Asia, Africa and South America but were unable to go when international travel was halted in 2020.

Those unable to rebook say they have been left "devastated and sickened", losing £2,000 in some cases.

Work the World said a "small number" of students were not eligible for refunds.

The company, which usually organises about 2,000 trips a year, said it operated as "part of a complex healthcare education ecosystem, which incurs costs as soon as students confirm their participation".

Some of the students were supposed to volunteer at a hospital in Hue, Vietnam

Flora Slorach, a third-year student nurse at Birmingham City University, said she had been looking forward to the "trip of a lifetime" when she and two friends booked to volunteer at a hospital in Kandy, Sri Lanka.

Each paid about £2,040 for the month-long experience, due to take place in August 2020, but government restrictions meant they could not travel.

"When I contacted Work the World they said I could either cancel the placement and receive no refund, or rebook the trip for next year," she said.

After being "strong-armed" into rebooking for August 2021 the group then decided to apply for a refund when foreign travel was again looking unlikely, said Ms Slorach.

"When I called [Work the World] they said they had already spent our money so were not capable of returning it," the paediatric student said.

"I've also been unable to claim on my insurance - and just feel taken advantage of.

"It's not really about losing the money now, it's the injustice of being treated badly and without care, and I don't want other students to suffer what we have."

Flora Slorach said her university had been offering emotional support as well as legal help

Charlotte Hickman, a medical graduate from Edinburgh University, said she had been left feeling "sickened and betrayed" when she lost about £1,500 after her trip to volunteer in Merida, Mexico, was cut short last March.

"[The company] claimed it wasn't cancelling the trip, but we weren't allowed into the hospital and our accommodation was to close," she said.

On contacting the company she said she was told this was just "temporary" and that she could finish the placement any time in the next year.

The 25-year-old, who now works as a doctor at Addenbrookes Hospital, Cambridge, said postponing it was "not an option".

"There's no way I would be able to get six weeks off work," she said.

The UK watchdog, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), suggests you should usually get your money back if contracts cannot go ahead due to lockdown laws.

The CMA says you should receive a full refund under most circumstances.

A solicitor's view

Consumer expert Gary Rycroft said, in his opinion, students should be entitled to a full refund.

"The reasons to cancel the trips were outside the control of the parties and often physically impossible and in some cases illegal to perform," the partner at Joseph A Jones solicitors said.

"It's really clear the students would have dearly liked to go on their electives, but they were impossible to perform, so in a 'frustrated' contract the parties should be put back in a position before the contract ever happened."

Olivia Rider had volunteered to work at a hospital in Vietnam

Friends Emily Hepworth and Olivia Rider - both studying at the University of Manchester - also failed to receive a refund from the company.

The trainee children's nurses were due to volunteer at a hospital in Hue, Vietnam, but ended up instead working as part of the pandemic emergency workforce at local hospitals.

Not getting any money back for the cancelled trip felt like a "smack in the face," said Ms Hepworth, 21.

"I haven't been paid for the past three years so it's a lot of money for me to lose."

Ms Rider, also 21, said she had been left "distraught" and had "pleaded down the phone" to a director of Work the World for a refund.

"How can they take money off medical students during a pandemic," she said. "It's just completely morally wrong."

Kellie Henderson was supposed to work as a volunteer physiotherapist at a hospital in the Philippines

Physiotherapy student Kellie Henderson said she was forced to apply to Northumbria University's hardship fund after losing more than £2,000 due to her cancelled trip to the Philippines.

"Technically the trip hasn't been cancelled," she said. "I've neither rearranged nor cancelled.

"I spoke to them [Work the World] quite a few times - to multiple different people. They were just repetitive saying 'we're not giving you a refund', and eventually the communication just stopped."

Work the World say the students are not eligible for refunds under their agreements.

Its director Fay Clonan said: "Over the past 12 months we've worked closely with hundreds of university and hospital partners to create flexibility around travel and placement dates, and new options to accommodate students within the frequently changing guidelines of both their own countries' governments and those they choose to take their elective in."

If a student had taken a "personal decision" not to postpone their elective, she added, "we have assisted in providing comprehensive documentation for claims against their travel insurance".

"We have provided full or partial refunds where they were due; however the vast majority of our students - 80% - have chosen to postpone their placements to travel with us at a later date.

"We have spent the last year working to make alternatives available for all of our students that will fulfil their educational needs, while supporting our partners in the complex context of this global pandemic."

Clarification 1 April 2021: We have updated this story to make clear that Work the World say they have provided full or partial refunds to students where they were due.