Concerns for social care staffing after healthcare visa changes
Posted 20 December 2023 - 09:00
Care England chief says ban on overseas social care workers bringing families to the UK could drive people from the sector and criticises lack of consultation
Social care leaders felt ‘blindsided’ by recently announced changes to visa rules banning care workers from bringing their families to the UK and have ‘grave concerns’ it could drive people from the sector, MPs have heard.
Changes could be disastrous for care system that is ‘creaking at the edges’
Martin Green, chief executive of Care England which represents social care providers across the country, criticised a lack of consultation with the sector, saying it left them ‘particularly concerned, annoyed and irritated’.
He told the Commons health and social care committee that the system is already ‘creaking at the edges’ due to a lack of funding and chronic workforce shortages.
He added that there is a ‘great deal of uncertainty for people who are already here who thought they might be able to bring their dependants in’.
Professor Green also warned workers might move from social care to the NHS and other sectors due to a difference in the policy on bringing dependants.
No consultation with Care England before changes announced
Health Secretary Victoria Atkins told the same committee last week that the social care sector was ‘broadly relaxed’ about the changes on dependants.
The same session heard from Department of Health and Social Care permanent secretary Chris Wormald that there was no prior consultation with Care England before the changes.
Speaking to the committee on 19 December, Professor Green said it would have been better if the government had been more collaborative.
Skills for Care chief executive Oonagh Smyth told the committee that ‘international recruits have significantly contributed to workforce capacity’ in the year to April 2023.
‘If we do reduce international recruitment, then it’s clear that we’re going to need to do more to recruit – and really, really importantly, retain – our domestic workforce, because demand is only going to grow over the next few years as our populations grow and we’re living longer but not necessarily healthier,’ she added.
A report from Skills for Care in July noted that the vacancy rate in social care was at about 9.9% – about 152,000 vacancies on any given day.
Changes aim to ‘curb abuse to healthcare visa’
Figures from the report indicate a nurse turnover rate in social care of 44% compared with 11% for NHS counterparts, and a nurse vacancy rate of 14%.
Announcing the changes earlier this month, home secretary James Cleverly said they are an attempt at ‘curbing abuses to the healthcare visa’.
Home Office figures published last month showed 143,990 health and care worker visas were granted in the year ending September 2023, more than double the 61,274 for the year to September 2022.
The 143,990 figure was just for main visa applicants and does not include dependants.
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