There has been a call for a rethink over the issuing of care worker visas with them now making up two-thirds of all those handed out under the health and care scheme. In the year to June 2023, 77,700 long-term work visas were granted to care workers – a six-fold increase from 12,300 in the year to 2022. This represented around two-thirds of all 120,300 health and care work visas. The government added senior care workers to the shortage occupation list in 2021, followed by care workers in February 2022, in a bid to fill the rising number of vacancies since Brexit and the end of freedom of movement.

Since then, there has been a rapid rise in the number of applications which now account for two in five of all skilled work visas, which totalled 189,000 in the year to June, up from 93,000 a year previously. The top three countries for health and care visas issued in the latest year are from India (30k), Nigeria (18k) and Zimbabwe (17k). Sam Monaghan, chief executive of Methodist Homes (MHA) – one of the country’s largest charitable care providers – said that this would create real difficulties in the sector. “Without overseas recruitment, vacancies will continue to be unfilled, the quality of care and support for vulnerable people would suffer and care homes may have to once again close their doors to new residents,”

He also stated the growing concern around pay and working conditions and the potential exploitation of migrant workers. “They may be unable to leave a location even when they’re not on shift or told to pay back huge sums to the company when they raise concerns about their working conditions or service quality. Sometimes this is backed with threats of deportation.” Additionally, there have been signs that the visa system itself may be exploited.

News have it that a woman from Nigeria who had travelled on a care worker visa from Nigeria only to find out that the job she had travelled for did not exist. A Home Office spokesperson said: “The public rightly expect us to control our borders and we remain committed to reducing net migration over time, while ensuring we have the skills our economy and public services needs. “We have robust measures in place to prevent abuse of our immigration system and we will always take decisive action if employers break the rules, including by revoking sponsor licences when necessary.”

Source: Sky News