TODAY’S new rules on overseas recruitment amount to kicking social care whilst it is down, providers say.
Legislation which prevents overseas workers from bringing over their families comes into force today.
Social care providers who have found overseas recruitment a lifeline during the current staffing crisis are angry over the change.
The care provider organisation, The Independent Care Group said it would deter staff from coming to provide care in the UK.
ICG chair Mike Padgham said: “Today’s changes are effectively social care whilst it is down. The sector is in crisis, with a shortage of 152,000 staff and a Government that is working against us rather than with us.
“Today’s changes will reduce our ability to recruit staff from overseas at a time when we cannot fill our shifts and provide the care we need to do. At the same time, the Government is doing nothing to help us to recruit from this country.
“The result is bound to be a reduction in the quantity and quality of care that we, as a country, can provide to the most vulnerable sector of our community, the people who need support the most.
“We need to see a proper workforce strategy that brings sufficient funding into social care that makes it an attractive place to work compared to other sectors and aids the sector to recruit the levels of staff we need.
“At the moment many providers would not be able to fill their shifts without their overseas staff. They contribute so much – in the care they offer, what they add to our cultural diversity and of course what they pay in taxes and spend in the economy too.
“We should be welcoming them with open arms but instead, today we are putting measures in place to turn them away without having an alternative in place to provide us with the staff we need. That doesn’t make any sense at all.”
Mike warned that reducing overseas recruits was bound to have an impact on more than just social care delivery.
