United Kingdom: Care Workers to be Added to Shortage Occupation List

Details of the temporary measure as follows:

• Minimum salary requirement. The minimum salary requirement for employers to sponsor foreign national care workers will be GBP 20,480, which is aligned with salary levels Senior Care Workers are currently paid.
• Job offer level. For the job to qualify under the temporary measure, sponsor license holders must ensure that they are offering a job at the required skill level or above— Regulated Qualifications Framework (RQF) 3 or above (A level and equivalent).
• Type of job offered. The offered job must be in an eligible health or social care job, including care workers, care assistants and home care workers, for an approved employer.
• Applicant requirements. The applicant must read, write, speak, and understand English to at least level B1 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) scale. They must also be a qualified adult social care professional.
• Sponsorship. Foreign nationals will need to be sponsored by a licensed employer to qualify for the Health and Care visa.
• Application cost. Applications for a Health and Care visa cost GBP 232 per person for up to three years or GBP 464 per person for more than three years. This is significantly less than the GBP 610 per person for a Skilled Worker visa for up to three years or GBP 1,220 per person for more than three years.
• Exemption from Immigration Health Surcharge. Employers will not be subject to the Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) if they meet the requirements of the Health and Care worker visa. The IHS fee is levied on some UK visa applicants and their dependents under certain visa types to pay for free access to the National Health Service. Generally, the cost per person per year is GBP 624 which is paid on top of the standard visa application fee.
• Dedicated support for applications. Employers and foreign nationals can contact the UKVI’s specialist team for queries related to the application process or eligibility for this visa type: [email protected].

The change will make it easier for employers to sponsor foreign national care workers by making it faster and cheaper to recruit eligible foreign nationals and will help to fill the shortage of qualified staff in the United Kingdom in this field.

• Sponsorship. Sponsorship is a contract between an employer and the Home Office where the employer commits to ensuring their foreign national workforce complies with the immigration rules over and above general right to work requirements. Employers require a sponsor license, a complex process that takes between one and four months to be granted. Fragomen recommends interested employers commence the sponsorship license process early to ensure they can hire care workers as needed.
• SOL. The SOL is comprised of job positions deemed to be in short supply within the UK resident labor market. These positions are subject to more relaxed eligibility criteria, thereby enabling employers to access a wider pool of suitably skilled workers.
• Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) recommendation. The policy change follows the publication of the MAC’s annual report in December 2021 which recommended that care workers and home carers immediately be added to the Health and Care Worker Visa route and to the SOL.
• 10-year Vision. The policy also aligns with the government’s 10-year vision for the Social Care sector, as set out in a recent white paper and describes how funding has been set aside for the sector to train the social care workforce to ensure they have the appropriate qualifications. The government has also pledged to set up workshops with stakeholders to inform the development and direction of funding over the next year.

In order for the temporary measure to go into effect, the current immigration rules and guidance would need to be amended by Parliament and the current administration. This is expected to occur in early 2022.