Women will pay price for fall in EU carers
Health chiefs warn shortfall of European workers may force people to leave jobs to look after older relations
WOMEN will have to give up work to look after their ageing parents and grandparents unless EU care workers are given priority in migration policy after Brexit, ministers have warned.
The Department of Health said that in a “worst case scenario”, if EU migrants were barred from coming to the UK there would be a shortfall of 6,000 doctors, 12,000 nurses and 28,000 care staff within five years. In a 37-page dossier it said that there would be a “wider risk to labour market participation” because growing numbers of people, “especially women”, would have to give up their jobs to provide “informal care” for loved ones.
The report does not specify why women would be worst hit, but statistically women are more likely to give up work to care for family members.
It highlights mounting Cabinet tensions over the end of free movement and the UK’S post-brexit immigration policy, which is due to be unveiled by the end of the year. Ministers are lobbying Theresa May, who wants to get net migration below 100,000, to give certain types of workers special treatment to avoid labour shortages.
The report states: “The risks to EEA [European Economic Area] workforce supply need to be considered in the context of continued rising demand across the health and care system.
“Considering rising life expectancy, population structural changes as well as increases in the number of people living with one or more long-term conditions, there are significant demand implications for the health and social care workforce.
“Unless we ensure such demand is met, there is a wider risk to labour market participation more generally, especially when considering increasing social care needs. If we fail to meet social care needs adequately we are likely to see a decrease in labour market participation levels, especially among women, as greater numbers undertake informal care.”
Next month the independent Migration Advisory Committee [MAC] will publish guidance and evidence which will underpin the Government’s post-brexit migration regime.
In a submission to the committee, the Department for Health said that it
‘We are likely to see a decrease in labour market participation levels, especially among women’
was “vitally important that any approach to migration prioritises the health and care sector”.
The dossier – drawn up under Jeremy Hunt, the former health secretary – says that EU migrants make a “vital contribution” to the NHS and social care in the UK. It says that EU migrants make up 7 per cent of all adult social care staff, equivalent to 90,000 workers, rising to 16 per cent – equivalent to one in six – of all registered nurses.
In the NHS, 15 per cent of dentists are EU migrants, while the figure for doctors is 9.1 per cent. The number of EU nurses and midwives in the UK has risen from 16,798 in March 2013 to 38,024 in March 2017.
The Department of Health warned that “even if ” the supply of British care workers, nurses and doctors was significantly increased, it remained “inherently uncertain” whether there would be enough to meet demand.
Four Seasons Health Care, which has 260 UK care homes, warned it may be forced to shut services if restrictions were placed on EU migrants.
Michael Gove’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has also made a submission highlighting how “vital” EU migrants were to agriculture and the food and drink sectors.
It said British workers were often unwilling to take on roles on dairy farms, partly because of “unsociable hours” and “rural locations”.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport warned that restrictions on EU migrants in the tourism sector would have a “negative impact”.
Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, is understood to be more positive about the situation and is confident that the UK will be able to cope after Brexit.
He was reassured after the Prime Minister exempted non-eu nurses from the Tier 2 visa cap earlier this year, enabling more to come to the UK.