Unions representing care workers made clear their anger to Department of Health officials in a meeting on Monday, following the publication of the immigration white paper, The i Paper understands.
Under the plans by the Home Office, the care worker visa route will be scrapped altogether, leaving a shortfall of around 7,000 workers who normally apply for this status, official government figures revealed.
There was also consternation that the white paper implies that care workers are not skilled, because under the reforms they are not eligible for the enhanced skilled worker visa route.
One union warned DHSC officials the plans could be a “catastrophe” for the social care sector, which is already facing vacancies of 130,000, while another described it as a “crushing blow”.
Last year, 71,046 work visas were granted to foreign care workers and home carers, with India, Nigeria and Zimbabwe making up more than half the total.
“They have thrown a grenade in the room, and it’s left us all even in even more doubt with regards to how we’re going to survive,” she told The i Paper.
Skills for Care estimates 540,000 more social care staff will be needed by 2040 to meet rising demands from an ageing population and increased demand.
‘We’re going to go backwards’
“International recruitment has allowed us to start filling some of that void, and now that they’ve removed that, we’re going to go backwards.”
“I can’t see what solutions the Government’s got other than recruiting more people from this country. But it’s not as though we haven’t tried in the past,” he said.
Dr Jane Townson, from the Homecare Association, said: “The visa crackdown ignores the severe shortage of domestic candidates despite our preference to hire locally – which would be more cost-effective and straightforward.
“The notion that benefit claimants can be quickly converted into care workers fundamentally misunderstands the dedication and expertise this vital work demands.”
Ministers are also putting forward new laws to introduce a fair pay agreement in social care to improve pay and conditions for care workers, as well as offering care workers career progression routes and the opportunity to take on NHS tasks, such as blood pressure checks and changing dressings.
Will Dalton, GMB national officer, said: “Scrapping this visa will be deeply damaging – potentially catastrophic for our beleaguered care system.
He added “there is absolutely no chance” plans for a fair pay agreement would be made “in time to fill the void these new visa restrictions will create”
Vic Rayner, chief executive of the National Care Forum, said: “This policy overlooks the current levels of unmet care and support needed.”
“Currently we are paying a very high price for successive governments’ failure to properly address social care reform, including putting the workforce on a sustainable footing,” she said.
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Read More“That is why we are introducing a new Fair Pay Agreement and implementing the first universal career structure, giving care workers better pay, conditions, and new opportunities to progress in their career.”
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