Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Local authoritiesLatest NewsLabour marketSkills shortagesImmigration

Immigration: Social care workers added to shortage occupation list

by Rob Moss 15 Feb 2022
by Rob Moss 15 Feb 2022 Roy Childs / Alamy
Roy Childs / Alamy

Social care workers have been added to the shortage occupation list from today, in an effort for more migrant workers to fill the huge numbers of vacancies in the sector.

The government announced on Christmas Eve that the change would come into force early this year after the Migration Advisory Committee highlighted the “severe and increasing difficulties the sector is facing in terms of both recruitment and retention”.

In its annual report for 2021, the MAC said that care worker jobs should “immediately” be made eligible for the health and care visa and placed on the shortage occupation list.

Home secretary Priti Patel said on 24 December that the sector was “experiencing unprecedented challenges prompted by the pandemic”, adding: “The changes we’ve made to the health and care visa will bolster the workforce and help alleviate some of the pressures currently being experienced.”

Care worker shortages

EU Settlement Scheme application backlog adds to skills fears

Care workers recommended for shortage occupation list

How to apply for a sponsor licence

Care workers from abroad will have to apply for a 12-month health and care visa and will need to have been offered a salary of at least £20,480 to qualify. They will be able to bring dependants, including a partner and children.

More than 100,000 vacancies exist in the care sector, a situation exacerbated by the regulation that came into force on 11 November, which along with the NHS is set to be reversed, for mandated double vaccinations for all frontline workers. Around 40,000 care workers are understood to have left the sector since then.

The government said that care workers would have to be paid at least £10.10 per hour, which is higher than what many workers in the sector currently earn.

Announcing the plans in December, health secretary Sajid Javid said: “It is vital we continue to do all we can to protect the social care sector during the pandemic and beyond.

“’These measures, together with the series of support packages announced since September, will help us ensure short term sustainability and success for our long-term vision to build social care back better.”

Professor Martin Green, chief executive of Care England, said: “Workforce is the biggest challenge for social care providers and putting social care staff on the shortage occupation list can help as an immediate solution to staff shortages. In the longer term, we need to ensure that we have enough money in the system to pay social care staff a good salary for the highly professional work they do.”

But Nadra Ahmed, executive chair of the National Care Association, said the process of recruiting overseas was not an easy. She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “It is not a cheaper option. One provider was saying to me that they brought in 18 people and it was going to cost them in excess of £50,000 to do that.”

Ahmed also highlighted that the pay rate of £10.10 per hour set by the Home Office is above the national living wage. “Even at £10.10 we would struggle because we have got other [sectors like] retail who are paying more.

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

OptOut
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

“That discrepancy of where we would start our domestic staff and where the Home Office has said the staff should be paid coming from abroad is also going to be a challenge, because we’re commissioned based on the national living wage. The fee that is paid to us by local authorities uses that as the baseline.”

HR opportunities in health and social care on Personnel Today


Browse more HR opportunities in healthcare

Rob Moss

Rob Moss is a business journalist with more than 25 years' experience. He has been editor of Personnel Today since 2010. He joined the publication in 2006 as online editor of the award-winning website. Rob specialises in labour market economics, gender diversity and family-friendly working. He has hosted hundreds of webinar and podcasts. Before writing about HR and employment he ran news and feature desks on publications serving the global optical and eyewear market, the UK electrical industry, and energy markets in Asia and the Middle East.

previous post
Ethnic minority NHS workers suffer ‘shocking’ racism and unfair treatment
next post
Government vows to tackle resourcing in health and social care

You may also like

Immigration white paper: which jobs will be affected?

19 May 2025

Immigration white paper: 10 key points and reaction

12 May 2025

Immigration white paper: strict limits on overseas recruitment

12 May 2025

Government could limit work visas for some nationalities

6 May 2025

Labour MPs urge more flexibility with EU over...

24 Apr 2025

Hiring international workers: key considerations for employers

8 Apr 2025

Home Office reveals employers’ costly right-to-work mistakes

7 Apr 2025

New right to work checks put onus on...

3 Apr 2025

Will new visa rules kill or cure the...

25 Mar 2025

‘Inconsistent immigration policy since Brexit is damaging the...

21 Mar 2025

  • 2025 Employee Communications Report PROMOTED | HR and leadership...Read more
  • The Majority of Employees Have Their Eyes on Their Next Move PROMOTED | A staggering 65%...Read more
  • Prioritising performance management: Strategies for success (webinar) WEBINAR | In today’s fast-paced...Read more
  • Self-Leadership: The Key to Successful Organisations PROMOTED | Eletive is helping businesses...Read more
  • Retaining Female Talent: Four Ways to Reduce Workplace Drop Out PROMOTED | International Women’s Day...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2025

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2025 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+