By Emma Brooksbank, Partner at Freeths
Overseas workers make up a significant portion of staff in the Care Sector but that is coming to an end.
The Government’s new immigration rules which came into effect on 22 July have ended the overseas recruitment of care workers. The aim is to bring all care sector recruitment of visa holders to an end by 2028. From 22 July 2025, entry clearance applications – applications made by people who are overseas at the time of the application – will no longer be accepted from care workers and senior care workers. Employers can only sponsor applicants from within the UK.
There are now two key groups of people who can apply for sponsorship into care roles. The first is candidates who are in the UK on a different visa route, a graduate or a dependant visa for example, and are looking to switch to a skilled worker visa in a care role. These candidates need to have been working in a care role for the sponsor for at least three months before the assignment of their Certificate of Sponsorship and the application must be made before 22 July 2028.
The second group is candidates who are already sponsored in a care role and already have a skilled worker visa in that role. These may be care workers already employed by you looking to extend their sponsorship or care workers employed by a different employer wanting to change jobs. These applications also need to be made before 22 July 2028.
A new concept – the temporary shortage list – has also been added to the immigration rules from 22 July. No care roles have been included in that list. However, the immigration salary list (what used to be called the shortage occupation list) will run alongside the temporary shortage list and this does include care roles.
Being on the immigration salary list is a positive for the care sector because a lower general salary threshold applies to roles on that list.
The general threshold and going for care roles (care worker and senior care worker) is £25,000 gross per annum, based on a 37.5 hour week.
Both the temporary shortage list and the immigration salary list are intended to be time limited with occupations on both lists lapsing on 31 December 2026 or 22 July 2028 for care roles. The intention is that the lists will then be phased out. The Government reserves the right to bring those deadlines forward. Equally, the deadlines may be pushed back, or there could be further overhaul of the of the immigration system.
What you need to do
- Look at the temporary shortage list and the immigration salary lists and, if you plan to recruit into these roles, bear in mind the deadlines of the end of 2026 for most roles and July 2028 for care roles. Be aware that that deadline might be brought forward so any recruitment plans are probably best implemented sooner rather than later.
- Note that the immigration skills charge will increase by 32% later this year. If you are planning to recruit, do so sooner rather than later to ensure that you’re paying today’s immigration salary charge rate rather than the higher rate.
- Think about training your teams around these rule changes.
- Look out for further changes to come this year including to the language requirements across the immigration system, a new family policy framework and more on the proposal to change the settlement qualifying period from five years to 10 years.
For expert advice on immigration rules contact Emma Brooksbank, head of the National Immigration team at Freeths on 0345 166 6300 or emma.brooksbank@freeths.co.uk.
Photo by Scott Graham on Unsplash
