Visa talks to fill 100k UK care vacancies

SPECIAL visas could be issued to European Union citizens and others abroad to fill almost 100,000 vacancies in Britain’s care sector.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock has admitted that a shortage of people employed in the care sector and the NHS means the Government is considering giving special dispensation to attract foreign workers.

Asked on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show yesterday whether ministers would replicate the system planned for agricultural workers, which will make it easier to bring in labour from abroad, Mr Hancock said: “There are discussions under way about whether that should happen.”

It is believed there are currently between 76,000 and 100,000 vacancies in the care sector, before the post-Brexit restrictions on immigration are introduced.

Important

Mr Hancock said: “Making sure that we can get people from around the world is important.

“But so too is training people domestically to go into these jobs and making sure we harness new technology so jobs can be effective and fulfilling as possible.

But he made it clear that the new visa system for care workers and the NHS would be worldwide, not just focused on the EU.

Mr Hancock said: “If you think about it, in the care sector as well as amongst the NHS, there are more people currently in the UK from outside the EU than from the rest of the EU.

“So we have always attracted people from right across the world, this is not just an EU question.”

Defending bringing in more controls, he said it was about ensuring the UK has high quality people and does not have to open its doors to anybody from the EU who can currently relocate by right.

Mr Hancock added: “The approach we should take in the future should be to be open to the brightest and the best from around the world.”

The Government is planning to bring in seasonal work visas for workers in the agricultural sector at peak times in the fruit-picking season.