Visa blow to foreign care home workers
Immigration shake-up stuns sector in crisis
FOREIGN workers hoping to help ease the social care crisis will not qualify for a special visa, the Government confirmed yesterday.
The care sector has been under mounting pressure during coronavirus, with at least 20,000 patients and residents dying from Covid-19.
Ministers have repeatedly praised carers, including those from abroad – but it will be much harder for them to work here from January under a postBrexit immigration overhaul.
They will not even be allowed to apply under the dedicated Health and Care Visa scheme.
Age UK charity director Caroline Abrahams said: “The vast majority of care roles are ineligible for the visa. What a missed opportunity. With well in excess of 100,000 vacancies, the care workforce needs all the help it can get.”
Home Secretary Priti Patel’s new point-based system will make it nearly impossible for foreigners to join the sector – with industry bosses urged to raise wages and lure British workers.
There will be no dedicated route for any foreign junior-level care home staff, who will only be permitted entry for work under a “non-skilled” route, such as being related to someone here.
Shadow Home Secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds said: “What does this Government have against care workers? Have they learned nothing from this
Friends link arms as they walk crisis?” GMB national secretary Rehana Azam said: “Those who rely on care and their families now face being punished by this ministerial incompetence.”
Naomi Smith, of the anti-Brexit group Best for Britain, said: “Voters know care workers are indeed essential workers.”
The Prime Minister’s spokesman said: “We want employers to invest more in training and developing care workers.”
The regime is designed to cut the amount of low-skilled migrants, as
Katie with her disabled son Harvey points will be awarded for requirements such as having a job offer from an approved employer, with 70 needed.
Figures for the year to March showed 404,000 non-EU migrants arrived – the highest since 1975 when it was 93,000. EU net migration dropped to 49,000.