'Glimmer of hope for New Year' as foreign care workers become eligible for fast-track UK visas

The government has expanded the Health and Care Visa scheme in a bid to stem the care sector recruitment crisis, making foreign care workers eligible for fast-track UK visas.

The change means foreign care home and home care workers will be eligible for the Health and Care Visa for a 12 month period.

The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) recommended that care workers be added to the Shortage Occupation List before Christmas saying it was due to the ‘severe and increasing difficulties faced by the care sector’.

The recommendation has now been accepted by ministers, with Health and Social Care Secretary Sajid Javid, saying: “It is vital we continue to do all we can to protect the social care sector during the pandemic and beyond.

“These measures, together with the series of support packages announced since September, will help us ensure short term sustainability and success for our long-term vision to build social care back better.”

Brexit and the mandatory Covid vaccine policy have exacerbated workforce shortages that were already prevalent within the care sector.

In order to qualify for the Health and Care Visa, care workers need to be able to earn a minimum annual salary of £20,480.

The temporary measures are expected to come into effect early next year and will be in place for a minimum of 12 months.

Care providers 'will have glimmer of hope for the New Year'

Vic Rayner, chief executive of the National Care Forum welcomed the news, saying: “The workforce is under more pressure than ever before, and this change will mean that hard pressed employers struggling to recruit from the UK labour market will have a glimmer of hope for the New Year.

“It is important that the government has finally addressed this issue, which has been strongly advocated for by NCF and it’s membership. It will be imperative that all organisations – large and small - needing these additional valued workers, will be able to utilise the Immigration system at speed. At present it is complex, and organisations currently using it for wider roles recognise the financial and bureaucratic burdens inherent in the system.”

The change was also welcomed by the Homecare Association with its chief executive, Jane Townson saying: “We have long campaigned for a change in migration policy to make it easier to recruit careworkers from overseas to help maintain and grow workforce capacity.

"Our member surveys indicate that workforce shortages in home care are acute and continue to worsen. Our findings are supported by data from monthly monitoring of vacancies by Skills for Care and by a recently published Department of Health and Social Care workforce survey."

Providers who are new to visa sponsorship will be supported through the process through a series of engagement activities in January and February, to introduce them to the system and find out how to act as a visa sponsor.

Care workers and carers recruited to the UK will be able to bring their dependants, including partner and children, with the Health and Care visa offering a pathway to settlement should they remain employed and wish to remain in the UK.

Changes 'will bolster the workforce'

Home Secretary Priti Patel MP said: “The care sector is experiencing unprecedented challenges prompted by the pandemic and the changes we’ve made to the health and care visa will bolster the workforce and helping alleviate some of the pressures currently being experienced.

“This is our New Plan for Immigration in action, delivering our commitment to support the NHS and the wider health and care sector by making it easier for health professionals to live and work in the UK.”

Minister for Care Gillian Keegan added: “This change will support getting more people into care as we implement our long-term strategy for a fair and sustainable care sector that meets the needs of everyone.”

It is a requirement for anyone working in CQC-regulated care homes to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 in order to comply with regulations. Those working in the home care sector must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by 1 April 2022.

NHS England has requested all vaccination centres offer priority access for frontline staff, including unpaid carers and social care staff, which includes access to queue management and priority lines.

The Health and Care Worker visa was launched in August 2020 and allows medical professionals to come to or stay in the UK, 50 per cent visa fee reduction, an exemption from the Immigration Health Surcharge and a speedier decision following application.

All roles in SOC Code 6145 will be brought into scope of this visa change. According to ONS this includes the job titles: Care Assistant, Care Worker, Carer, Home Care Assistant, Home Carer and Support Worker (Nursing Home).

The leading care home jobs site, carehome.co.uk, has seen the number of jobs posted climb to its highest ever level. It currently has over 9,000 jobs listed. In January 2021 it had 4,832 listed, by August this had nearly doubled to 8,142. In August 2020, job vacancies stood at 4,959 and in August 2019, they were 5,241.

A report by Skills for Care in October revealed that an average of 6.8 per cent of roles in the adult social care sector were vacant in the year 2020/21. This is equivalent to 105,000 jobs being advertised on any given day.

The Migration Advisory Committee is currently in the middle of a commission investigating the impact of the ending of freedom of movement on the adult social care sector. It will be producing the final report in April 2022.