Home Office hosts foreign care worker recruitment webinars

The Home Office is hosting two webinars for the care sector to describe the recruitment process for overseas care staff under the government’s points-based immigration system.

The one-hour sessions on 21 January and 25 January includes updates on the Health and Care Visa, the Skilled Worker visa, recruiting overseas care workers from mid-February, how to become a Home Office sponsor, Right to Work checks and the EU Settlement Scheme.

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

On 24 December, the government announced home care workers and other care staff will become eligible for the Health and Care Visa to try to lessen the care sector’s recruitment crisis by making care staff eligible for fast-track UK visas.

The government has made care workers eligible for the visa and placed them on the Shortage Occupation List (SOL) for a 12-month period.

The visa offers a 50 per cent visa fee reduction and workers are also exempt from the Immigration Health Surcharge. Inclusion on the SOL requires an annual salary minimum of £20,480 for carers to qualify for the visa. Care workers can apply for a visa to stay for up to five years.

Promoting its webinars on Eventbrite, the Home Office stated: ‘Please join officials from the Home Office's Engagement and Policy teams, the Department of Health and Social Care and representatives from Skills for Care and the social care sector for a 90-minute webinar’.

The government department stated the webinars will provide ‘an overview of the points-based immigration system for the social care sector and what the recent announcement means for international recruitment, how to ensure ethical international recruitment and examples of best practice from the social care sector’.

Before Christmas, the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) recommended that care workers be added to the Shortage Occupation List because of the ‘severe and increasing difficulties faced by the care sector’.

To register for the webinar on 21 January, visit https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/social-care-recruiting-an-overseas-care-worker-under-points-based-system-tickets-242980440037

To attend the webinar on 25 January, visit: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/social-care-recruiting-an-overseas-care-worker-under-points-based-system-tickets-242993890267