How visa crackdown may hit social care the hardest

THE elderly may find it harder to get the care they need after the crackdown on foreign workers, industry bosses warned.

Social care staff from abroad will be banned from bringing relatives with them in restrictions announced yesterday.

They will also need visas from firms registered with the Care Quality Commission, closing a loophole allowing migrants to arrive without jobs to go to. In an attempt to limit the impact on care firms, they will be exempt from paying a major increase in the skilled worker salary to £38, 00.

But industry leaders, charities and trade unions still fear the new measures would be disastrous for nursing homes and home help providers. Latest figures show 0,000 care workers were recruited from abroad in the past year alone, yet there is still a shortage of 150,000 across England.

Danny Mortimer, of NHS Employers, said it will ‘cause deep concern across social care and health’, while preventing workers bringing dependants ‘will be met with dismay’. Independent Care Group chief Mike Padgham said it ‘will have a detrimental impact on care’, and Christina McAnea at Unison said the ‘cruel’ plans ‘spell total disaster for the NHS and social care’.

Care Provider Alliance chairman Dr Jane Townson urged the Government to provide ‘sufficient funding’ so that providers can offer ‘competitive pay’ to UK workers and ‘reduce reliance on overseas staff’.