Care faces ‘crippling’ staff cuts after Brexit
● Scottish Government demands shift ● UK workers to benefit from changes
Scotland’s social care system will be left “critically short of staff ” under post-brexit immigration plans, a new rep or t has warned.
Holy rood is now calling on the UK government to add these workers to the UK Shortage Occupation List (SOL) which would allow such staff to obtain visas under the strict er immigration plans which will be introduced after the B rex it transition concludes at the end of the year.
The UK government is planning to introduce a pointsbased immigration system and says it will mean business can invest more in UK workers.
About one in ten care workers in Scotland are migrants, almost 30,000 in total, and Scottish ministers say the key role they play has been thrown into sharp focus during the Covid-19 outbreak.
Are think is now being demanded on their visa status in a report prepared by Scottish ministers which marks their formal response to the Migration Advisory Committee’s call for evidence on the UK SOL.
Migration minister Ben Macpherson said: “Care professionals from all over the world have played a vital role in caring for our com muni ties during the C ovid -19 crisis.
“It is mind-boggling that the UK government has introduced a ‘health and care visa’, intended to show the UK’ s gratitude to frontline workers in these sectors, but that this initiative bizarrely continues to exclude and disregard the huge contribution of social care workers.
“I urge the UK government to do the right thing and include care workers as eligible for the recently announced ‘health and care visa’, so that people who make and have made such an important contribution to our society, particularly recently, can benefit from reduced fees, a fast-track application service, and exemption from the immigration health surcharge.”
He added: “The UK government’s ending of freedom of movement, and no replace - ment general route for what they have wrongly and offensively deemed ‘lower-skilled’ migrants, will be damaging to social care provision and key Scottish sectors of the Scottish economy.
“Adding social care roles to the SOL would allow employers to recruit inter national workers at a lower salary threshold of £20,480, instead of the proposed £25,600.”
The new system will mean those wishing to work in the UK must gain 70 points. A job offer and the ability to speak English is mandatory and earns applicants 70 points, with further points being awarded for meeting criteria such as holding a PHD relevant to t he job, or earning more than a “general salary threshold” of £25,600.
Those with job offers in “shortage occupations” such as nursing and civil engineering would also be able to earn extra points.
Many professions which help keep the country going during the coronavirus crisis and were classed as key workers would not be entitled to a visa under the forthcoming plans.
These include food processors and supermarket workers, delivery drivers, nurses as well as care workers.
The Scottish Government wants the “freedom of move - ment” arrangement which currently exists across the EU to continue after Brexit, but says that even without this any future system should be as close to replicating it as possible.