EU Care Workers Will Shun UK For Countries With No Visas, Warn Lawyers

With the standstill Brexit negotiations & the threat of “no deal”, Brexit is still on halt and with this the fate of many of UK’s significant businesses stays unsure, says a well known immigration advisor. One of which is Britain’s care industry, which appears to be specifically threatened by the proposed post Brexit policies of immigration.

Nationwide Shortage

Social and care workers provide a pivotal service across the British region; working vigorously to care for the vulnerable, elderly and sick.

Although, according to the IPPR (Institute for Public Policy) think tank, care professionals are exploited in UK and they work excessive hours, with many on insecure and zero-hour job contracts.

All the more many years of chronic underfunding and austerity cuts to public spending means that UK’s care professionals did not receive enough pay for their job. According to one of the care workers charity figures, the care professionals only earn £7.76 hourly whereas the IPPR propose that they must be paid according to the national living wage, that is hourly £10.55 in London & £9 in the rest of the UK.

When this is coupled with the unsteady contracts offered to the employees and progressively extended hours, it is no wonder that care workers are looking for a career change. In between 2015 & 2016, more than 900 care professionals quit their jobs and the figure is only increasing. This led to an enormous labour gap within the staff which has been defined as a “national emergency” by the NHS. According to the ONS, there is a vacancy shortage of 90k workers in 1.34 million social care workforces, a rate that is 3 times higher than the nationwide labour market average. 

This combined with the fact that the number of senior citizens requiring round the clock care is expected to increase in the following decade, is causing serious concern about the care industry’s future.

It is a definite recommendation to seek help from the best immigration lawyers in London, concerning the matter.

Surcharge on Immigration health 

While trying to combat the aperture in the NHS budget, an increase in the immigration health surcharge has been declared by the home office. 

The surcharge for many migrants is set to increase from £200 - £400 while for those on a UK Skilled Worker Visa (5 year) the charge will go from £1000 to £2000.

Brexit’s Impact

EU citizen will not receive the “preferential” treatment any longer post Brexit. They will have to meet the similar visa requirements as of those from outside the European Economic Area.  

This means to be able to work in the UK, EU care workers will need to submit an application for a Skilled Worker Visa. Contrary to nurses and doctors, care professionals are not listed on the shortage occupation list of the UK. Therefore they do not qualify for discounts or reductions in visa fees. 

The Government has declared that it will soon announce a new short-term visa allowing low skilled workers to work in the UK from certain countries for up to a year, but they will not be able to change to other categories of visa or extend their stay in the UK.

According to “Skills for Care”, 104k of the care sector’s manpower comes from the EU, and a further 130k from other overseas.

As a sector which is highly dependent on overseas talent, Brexit causes a direct threat to the already suffering workers. It has been forecasted that the care industry will fall short by 380k workers by 2026 if the proposed migration constraints proceed as planned.

According to IPPR, in order to combat this likelihood, care workers and social workers must be added in the SOL. This will exempt them from the visa cap & eventually receive discounted application fee.  Wish to get more information? Get in touch with the best immigration advisor in your area.