Responding to the latest report from the Migration Advisory Committee, (MAC) on a future points-based immigration system, Dame Donna Kinnair, RCN Chief Executive and General Secretary, said:
“The recommendations of the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to maintain a restrictive immigration system appear to fall short of what is required to meet the workforce needs of the health and social care sectors, now and in the future.
“Whilst international recruitment shouldn’t be used as a replacement for domestic workforce supply, it’s clear that overseas recruitment of health and care staff will need to continue in the short to medium-term so that services can fill the growing number of vacant posts.
“We are disappointed to see that our concerns, shared by the wider sectors, in relation to the need for an appropriate immigration route for social care workers, care assistants and support workers appear to have been ignored.
“This is a missed opportunity to urge the government to reshape the immigration system into one that recognises the public value that health and care occupations bring to the UK - which could be possible through an Australian-style points based system.
“Instead, their recommendations appear to maintain the status quo; fixated on financial contribution and level of qualification alone.
“Whilst the MAC recognise the potential implications for the social care sector, they do not provide workable solutions to address the practical realities and difficulties of raising the salary levels across the sector in the UK, where there is no national influence or control.
“We have been clear that maintaining arbitrary salary thresholds will not enable the health and social care services to recruit and retain the number of health and care staff needed to meet the needs of the UK’s population.
“Temporary salary threshold exemptions for only part of the workforce are not sufficient to provide the assurance to employers that they will be able to employ the necessary numbers of health and care workers. This is especially true in the context of the current workforce shortage crises which have been exacerbated by the loss of EU workers since the referendum in 2016 – these losses could well be made worse when freedom of movement is lost and the costly immigration system is applied to those coming from Europe.
“Health and care staff from overseas will be asking themselves why they would want to come and work in a country that sets out so many obstacles to a career, when they could quite as easily go and work somewhere else that is equally less bureaucratic and more welcoming.
“As the Government considers this report, we hope they will put patient safety and the general needs of the health and care needs of the UK population first.
“We plan to continue constructive conversations between us, the RCN, and the Home Office to work through the issues identified”
Ends
