The UK government’s plans for a fast-track visa system for health workers will not include concessions for care home staff and will have minimum salary thresholds in place which could have a significant impact on recruitment in the industry.
There is a minimum salary threshold of £20,480, but more points will be awarded if an applicant would earn over the general salary threshold of £25,600.
The government’s plans for the visa allow for reduced application fees for health workers and further support for applicants and their families but does not include care staff because of the fact that the minimum salary threshold excludes cleaners, porters and support staff roles in the NHS, as well as care home workers and contractors.
The government has encouraged care providers to look at the domestic workforce to fill a shortfall of around 120,000 workers, in a profession where 17 per cent of care worker roles are occupied by foreign workers, according to the Guardian.
Professor Martin Green, the chief executive of Care England, said that the decision could “destabilise the sector even further with potentially disastrous consequences”.
Home secretary Priti Patel outlined proposals for the new system in the House of Commons last week, which is described in more thorough detail by a 130-page Home Office document.
Patel said: "At a time where an increased number of people across the UK are looking for work, the new points-based system will encourage employers to invest in the domestic UK workforce, rather than simply relying on labour from abroad.
"But we are also making necessary changes, so it is simpler for employers to attract the best and brightest from around the world to come to the UK to complement the skills we already have."
Labour shadow home secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds said: "To exclude care workers from the health visa is a clear signal that this government does not appreciate the skill and dedication these roles involve... it is yet another insult from this Tory party to those who have been at the frontline of this crisis."
The National Care Forum, which represents voluntary care providers, has suggested that agency staff could be used to plug a shortfall in the industry, which could increase the risk of transmission for Covid-19.
The Forum’s executive director, Vic Rayner, says that the system could bring about “unmitigated disaster”, particularly in London where 38 per cent of care workers are non-British.
Rayner said: “We have 122,000 vacancies, growing demand for our services, and then the tap is turned off like this.
“It is not good news at all. What you need for good care is a stable, skilled and plentiful workforce. And in the context of Covid-19, where you are trying to minimise movement of staff, any shortages might increase movement of staff and use of agency staff, which we are trying to avoid.”
Nick Sherard, administrator of independently owned residential care home Littlefair in East Grinstead, West Sussex, informed the Leaders Council of Great Britain & Northern Ireland that staffing remained a key problem for the sector.
Sherard said: “One of the biggest issues for us is staff levels. We operate with 35 staff and 40 residents and being in an industry where people do pass away, we have to make sure as and when that happens we can quickly return to full occupancy and we need to maximise our staff workforce in order to do that.”
Speaking of the intent behind the decision to exclude care sector staff from the health and care visa, a Downing Street spokesperson said: “We want employers to invest more in training and development for care workers in this country. On care workers specifically, our independent migration advisers have said that immigration is not the sole answer here, which is why we have provided councils with an additional £1.5 billion of funding for social care in 2021-22, as well as launching a new recruitment campaign.”
