28 Apr 2022
by The Homecare Association

The Migration Advisory Committee has urged the Government to remove the Immigration Skills Charge for all Care Worker Visas, and ensure careworkers have ongoing access to visas.

Responding to the report, Dr Jane Townson, Homecare Association's CEO said:

"The Homecare Association has long been calling for a reduction in the costs involved in enabling workers from overseas to be recruited. We have written to the Minister for Care encouraging the Government to make this a reality.

We, therefore, strongly endorse the Migration Advisory Committee's recommendation to the Government to remove the Immigration Skills Charge for all Care Worker Visas and make visas permanently accessible to careworkers.  

Recruiting and retaining homecare workers has never been more difficult. After years of government under-investment in the sector, the removal of infection control funds, the rapid increase in the cost of living, the homecare sector is in a precarious state. Careworkers are burnt out from the past two years of providing care non-stop through the pandemic, and a proportion are leaving the sector entirely to hospitality and retail where jobs have higher pay rates and less responsibility. Providers have never been more stretched, waiting lists for homecare are at an all-time high and the true value of careworkers is becoming ever more apparent.

Changes to migration policy are needed urgently, as part of a wider range of approaches to increasing workforce capacity, to help ensure we have sufficient committed and skilled care workers to provide the quality of support we and our loved ones expect and deserve.

We are pleased that the Migration Advisory Committee see this as part of a wider picture and join them in calling on the Government to develop a workforce plan for social care in consultation with the sector and to increase public sector funding to support a fairer wage offer for all of our careworkers (whether from the UK or overseas)."

ENDS

Notes to Editors

MAC report: Adult social care and immigration, 27 April 2022.