Changes in UK visa laws threaten shortage of immigrant residential care workers
by Christine M - April 2, 2010
United Kingdom, 2nd April: UK is likely to face a severe shortage of residential care workers following several changes announced in the UK visa laws recently.
The residential care homes in the UK have to necessarily rely on recruitment of immigrant workers. But, a large number of immigrants possessing UK visas are unlikely to get their visas renewed due the amendments in the UK points-based system. As per the changes by the UK immigration, only those non-senior care workers will be allowed entry into the UK who are within the EU.
Moreover, the UK visas of the senior care immigrant workers will be renewed with a condition that the hourly rate for them will be £7.02. But, this rate is beyond the affordability of majority of residential care homes in the UK.
According to a recent estimate, nearly 60 percent of the care workers in London hail from non-EU. The data reveals that nearly one third of the total care workers in the UK in the year 2007 were immigrant workers from different countries.
With the growing percentage of aging population in the country, the UK is likely to have a much high demand for care workers in the coming times. It is being projected that nearly a million of more workers will be required by the year 2025 to provide services to the aging population of the UK.
However, the stricter UK immigration norms introduced recently are only going to complicate the problem of shortage of care workers in the UK since migrant care workers in the UK will find it difficult to get their UK visas renewed. Manager of Queen’s Court Care Home, Shaaron Caratella, said she might find it impossible to renew the UK visas of residential care workers after the expiry of the visas this year.
Meanwhile, it has been found that nearly one out of every five migrant care workers in the UK is underpaid since the average wage of migrant workers is even less than the minimum wage, stated COMPAS( Center on Migration, Policy and Society) at the Oxford University.
And this trap of ‘modern slavery’ work will create trafficking scenario with the fear that legal migrant workers will be compelled to turn to illegal immigration into the UK.
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