Following this week’s announcement of the UK government’s plans to deliver “the biggest ever reduction in net migration”, the care sector is in disarray as it struggles to compute the implications of policy changes, which will undoubtedly have a huge negative impact on its ability to recruit care workers from overseas.
While many specifics of the “5-step immigration reduction plan” are yet to be fully disclosed, it is evident that starting next Spring, overseas workers entering the UK on a health and care worker visa for social care positions will be prohibited from bringing their dependents. Adding to the controversy, it seems that this dependent ban will not apply to overseas workers filling positions in the NHS (further clarification is awaited, as to whether this applies to all roles or specifically to nurses). This restriction has already sparked significant backlash, with industry leaders condemning it as “cruel” and predicting that it will exacerbate social care workforce challenges.
The Home Secretary has refuted these claims, suggesting that such is the level of “surplus demand” from overseas staff to work in the UK care sector, that anyone dissuaded by the restrictions on bringing in dependants would likely be replaced by someone without family commitments.
However, his confidence is not shared by sector bodies. The Care Provider Alliance (CPA) said the government was “severing the lifeline of international recruitment”.
“This is currently the only option we have to maintain and increase workforce numbers, as recruitment in the UK remains challenging,” Jane Townson, CPA Chair.
“If care workforce numbers fall and providers cease to operate, unmet need will escalate. Not only will this lead to individual and family suffering, but it will increase pressure on council and NHS services and further extend waiting lists.”
Meanwhile, the Care and Support Alliance (CSA), has urged the government to significantly increase adult social care funding to reduce the sector’s reliance on migration by making social care a more viable career option for people in the UK.
“It is facile for any policymaker to suggest that there are ample numbers of people already based here to fill the gaps in the social care workforce, without also agreeing to the action needed to make these roles more attractive domestically in terms of pay and conditions.”
And whilst the national living wage will increase by 9.8%, from £10.42 to £11.44 an hour, next April, the CPA warns that, without extra funding, councils and NHS commissioners will not be able to pay providers sufficiently to cover the rise that should benefit thousands of care workers.
On a more positive note, the care sector has been spared further restrictions on immigration that will apply to other sectors. Health and care worker visa holders will be exempt from a sharp increase in the minimum salary required of skilled migrants from next spring, from £26,200 to £38,700.
Presently, health and care worker visas remain available to overseas care workers with a salary of £20,960 or higher. If the health and care worker visa had been subjected to the minimum salary increase for skilled migrants, at £38,700, this would have effectively excluded the majority of non-managerial health and care positions.
Furthermore, health and care worker visa holders will continue to be exempt from paying the immigration health surcharge, which has increased significantly to £1,035 per year.
Other question marks remain regarding the announced replacement of the shortage occupation list based on a reduced number of occupations. It is not yet known whether this will impact on the health and care worker visa, which currently includes care assistants, senior care assistants, and nurses.
Christina McAnea, general secretary of the public services union Unison, has pointed out that these changes weaken the UK’s ability to compete in a global market for migrant healthcare staff:
“Migrants will now head to more-welcoming countries, rather than be forced to live without their families.”
She joined the battle cry for social care sector reform:
“If ministers stopped ducking the difficult issues, and reformed social care as they’ve long promised, there wouldn’t be such a shortage of workers. None of this is rocket science. Fund care properly and raise wages, and the sector becomes a more attractive place to work. But take away the migrant workers currently stopping care from going under and it collapses.” Christina McAnea, Unison.
SESCA will continue to monitor these latest immigration policy changes and report on their implications for the adult social care sector.