NEW: Govt confirms that the new “health and care visa” will not include social care workers. 
Ministers have said they want NHS and social care to put on an equal footing. This will be another example where they are not.
Given their absence govt is effectively saying care homes should recruit from UK.
Given their absence govt is effectively saying care homes should recruit from UK.
Is true that there will be huge vacancies and retraining opportunities and with unemployment there will be some capacity in labour market for that.
That said, there massive vacancies in the sector before. And historically not that much desire from UK workers to work in care...
That said, there massive vacancies in the sector before. And historically not that much desire from UK workers to work in care...
Hence care sector is very dependent on EU and non-EU labour. Talking about hundreds of thousands of people.
There is a lot of hope among non-EU carers already here that the Home Secretary will extend free visas to them today, to bring them into line with the extension most NHS workers have received. They’re being faced with costs of thousands.
It’s something I’ve reported on a lot over last couple of months and is a huge issue and source of much upset. I got a text from one carer last week saying he’d been losing sleep about it (whilst caring for covid+) but “had just about lost hope”
Full report can be watched here:
