Migration ‘won’t solve crisis in social care’

THE nationwide crisis in social care will be exacerbated by more migration, a report has warned.

It says relying on foreign labour to address staffing shortfalls will depress wages and allow poor working conditions to continue.

Charity Independent Age and think tank International Longevity Centre estimate a shortfall of up to a million care workers by 2037 if EU migration is restricted after Brexit. British workers shun the social care sector, where the effective wage for as many as one in 10 staff is below the national minimum.

But Migration Watch UK claims poor working conditions are more likely to be the underlying reason that discourage a move into social care, an industry that sees up to a quarter of workers quit within a year.

Vice-chairman Alp Mehmet said: “Lower-skilled migration adds little, if anything, to the UK’s budget.

“Instead, it maintains the UK’s poor productivity levels while pushing down some of the lowest wages, especially in the care sector. It is not right to pursue a policy of importing lower-skilled workers rather than making these jobs more attractive to existing residents.”

A Bank of England report last year found migration into lower-skilled work had a clear negative effect on wages, especially in caring personal service jobs.

FOR too long big businesses have taken advantage of mass migration to offer workers substandard wages for doing undesirable jobs. This is not such a problem for people who come here from poorer countries because they send much of their money home where the cost of living is far cheaper. For Britons though it has been a disaster as they have had to put up with stagnant wages or been forced out of their jobs.

Social care is one of the industries where these effects have been felt most keenly and there are warnings of a shortfall of care staff if EU migration levels are restricted. This is self-serving nonsense from an industry built on exploiting cheap migrant labour.

If care staff are offered proper wages and decent working conditions, there will be no problem in finding British people willing to take on the job.