Allow carers already in UK on sponsored visa to work for any CQC care provider

We are asking the Government to reconsider its position on foreign carers who are already in the UK on sponsored visas, to be allowed to find work with any CQC registered care providers. We think there are thousands of carers who are here with no work from their sponsors, who face having to go home!

We think it doesn’t make sense, when the health and social care sector is crying out for carers, for people who are already in the country, but through no fault of their own, haven’t got enough or no work at all, to be given 60 days to find a sponsor or leave the country! Some care providers are not licensed sponsors, but are desperate for staff. We think if carers are allowed to work for any CQC registered care provider, they would work more hours and bring much needed tax revenue.

The Government is aware that care workers who have lost their sponsor are finding it difficult to find sponsors. Therefore officials from the Home Office and Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) are working closely with the sector to improve their interactions with the immigration system and to help target non-compliance and exploitation, including updating international recruitment guidance and producing workers’ rights awareness guidance for those coming to the UK.

The sponsorship system is an integral part of the Points Based System, ensuring that migrants have a job when they come to the UK. The UK’s sponsorship system has a built-in compliance framework, with strong safeguards to prevent sponsors from engaging in illegal or exploitative employment practices. Employers are obliged to comply with the sponsor guidance which outlines their duties and responsibilities as sponsors. UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) have a duty to act against those who breach their sponsorship duties, with revocation of a sponsor licence being the last resort.

UKVI compliance teams continue to investigate a range of allegations about the adult care sector. The evidence ranges from labour market offences such as charging for work finding fees and non-payment of National Minimum Wage to the higher level of exploitative abuses such as debt bondage and modern slavery.

UKVI have also encountered a significant number of non-genuine employers and also, in very high numbers, employers not being able to evidence hours of work available to overseas workers.