UK’s new laws hit back at overseas nurses and care assistants
UK’s new laws hit back at nurses and care assistants. The “sticking plaster solution” to the staffing crisis is allowing asylum seekers to work in care facilities.
Insiders have cautioned that allowing asylum seekers to work in care facilities is merely a “sticking plaster” solution to the staffing crisis facing the industry.
Under a Home Office scheme, asylum seekers, including Channel migrants, have been quietly granted the ability to continue receiving state-subsidized bed and board and to work in understaffed industries like care, agriculture, and construction.
If, after a year, their application is still pending and they have not been granted permission to stay in the UK, they can continue working under the programme that grants them the right to do so. The Home Office has declined to disclose the number of beneficiaries.
However, in light of a larger staffing crisis facing the sector, experts and providers in the care industry have cautioned that the programme is merely a “sticking plaster” and a “short, sharp fix.”
They assert that asylum seekers who work in the care industry but are ultimately denied permanent residency will only fill the void momentarily before being deported.
They also worry that people who are allowed to stay will leave for better-paying positions.
“We require sustainable solutions.”
National Care Association chairman Nadra Ahmed stated: “This is just a short, sharp fix, and can work against us.”
“We can’t presume that anyone can perform the duties of social care. Speaking to someone with dementia in perfect English can be difficult enough, so there shouldn’t be an English language barrier for the old, fragile, or other vulnerable people receiving care. Additionally, the industry needs to have a long-term plan for its operations.
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This isn’t a temporary fix. We refer to the workforce in social care as skilled because it requires individuals who are dedicated to their work and who are willing to learn new skills and undergo training in order to build a strong, long-lasting sector.
“I worry that this is short-term, but we would welcome with open arms someone who wanted a long-term career in social care,” the woman continued. Providers must invest enormous sums of money in training and skill development; if they are dismissed or have their status changed, we lose that employee from the industry. Or if they stay and afterwards decide to take a better-paying position elsewhere.
Therefore, keeping people engaged continues to be a challenge. That is the problem; we require long-term solutions; these are all band-aid solutions.
Out of 1.79 million total jobs in the care industry, there are 152,000 open positions as of October, according to the most recent Skills for Care data available. As a result, the vacancy rate has decreased to 9.9% from 10.7% in 2021–2021.
This coincides with a rise in the hiring of foreign labour. After arriving in the UK that year, 70,000 people began working in adult social care in 2022–2023. Compared to 10,000 in 2020–21 and 20,000 in 2021–22, this number was higher.
In 2023, the health and social care industries experienced a severe staffing deficit. Consequently, in the year ending in March 2023, the UK immigration system admitted an unprecedented number of foreign health and care workers, who accounted for the majority of skilled worker entry visas.
A Guardian report claims that since ministers loosened immigration laws to fill thousands of positions, modern slavery has also increased in the social care industry, with an increase in instances of exploitation resulting in workers being taken advantage of or living in abject poverty.
“Preventable problems are caused by the current system.”
Based on calls to its helpline, the Bristol-based anti-slavery charity Unseen said it identified at least 800 possible victims of modern slavery last year, an increase of more than 1,100% over the 63 in 2021. The increase follows the Home Office plan to add carers to the list of occupations in shortage in 2022 as a result of loosened visa regulations.
“Social care providers, and especially third sector providers, are really being impacted negatively by current immigration policy,” a senior health official told The Telegraph, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Many dishonest suppliers prey on people by making work promises that they can’t keep or by failing to perform due diligence.
Numerous healthcare professionals have stated that avoidable issues are being brought on by the current system.
Indeed, they had previously put forth more affordable and effective solutions. In certain areas, there is a shortage of carers, and immigrants who work in social care can fill the gap in staffing while also helping immigrants become law-abiding citizens of the UK by imparting necessary skills and learning about the local culture.
“However, it appears that the current state of affairs is counterproductive, harming social care, and creating opportunities for human trafficking and slavery.”
The Home Office programme, which permits asylum seekers to work in the construction, care, and farming industries after a year, is a holdover from an EU law passed in 2005 that overturned a 2002 Sir Tony Blair initiative that denied undocumented immigrants the ability to work.
According to the source, it’s a sticking plaster for a national system, a) a lot of people aren’t aware of it, b) it’s complicated, and c) it’s not what we need. Not many good things have been said about it.
“In my opinion, the Home Office should get down and properly co-design with carers. But they’ve never been able to understand that at all.
“The UK has one of the most restrictive right-to-work policies for asylum seekers in Europe, both in terms of occupations and time limits,” a government spokesman stated. This finds the ideal balance between safeguarding public funds and preventing incentives for individuals to enter the UK illegally.
“Yet, we are dedicated to hiring morally from abroad and will keep bringing in the people that the NHS and care industry require. We will also continue to support our domestic workforce by giving councils nearly £2 billion over the course of two years.”
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