Employers will soon be required to prioritise recruiting international care workers already in England before hiring from abroad, under new government rules.
From April 9, care providers looking to recruit staff from overseas will have to show they have first tried to recruit someone from within England that needs sponsorship.
The government said the change aims to reduce the reliance on overseas recruitment and to ensure individuals who have travelled to the UK to work in social care, can keep working in the sector.
Under the government’s ‘Plan for Change’, it said it hopes to ‘restore order’ to the immigration system and ‘end reliance on overseas labour’.
The changes will also see the minimum salary thresholds updated to reflect the latest data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
This will mean those working on the Skilled Worker visa, including care workers, are paid a minimum of £12.82 per hour.
Stephen Kinnock, minister for care, said the government ‘must do all we can’ to prevent the exploitation of social care workers and to support social care staff who have already travelled to the UK ‘back into rewawarding careers’ in the sector.
‘Prioritising care workers who are already in the UK will get people back to work reducing our reliance on international recruitment, and make sure our social care sector has the care professionals it needs,’ he added.
This came after the government last year banned direct care workers arriving from overseas from bringing dependents on their visa.
Also in December, the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) published its latest registration data which suggested the recruitment of nurses from overseas had slowed.
