Scots social care workforce facing ‘critical shortages’ post-Brexit

Scotland's social care system will be left "critically short of staff" under post-Brexit immigration plans, a new report has warned.

Scotland's social care industry faces critical shortages

Holyrood is now calling on the UK Government to add these workers to the UK Shortage Occupation List (SOL) which would allow such staff to obtain visas under the stricter immigration plans which will be introduced after the Brexit transition concludes at the end of the year.

About one in ten care workers in Scotland are migrants, almost 30,000 in total, and Scottish ministers say the key role they play has been thrown into sharp focus during the Covid outbreak.

A rethink is now being demanded on their visa status in a report prepared by Scottish ministers which marks their formal response to the Migration Advisory Committee’s call for evidence on the UK Shortage Occupation List (SOL).

Migration minister Ben Macpherson said: “Care professionals from all over the world have played a vital role in caring for our communities during the COVID-19 crisis.

“It is mind-boggling that the UK Government has introduced a ‘Health and Care visa’, intended to show the UK’s gratitude to frontline workers in these sectors, but that this initiative bizarrely continues to exclude and disregard the huge contribution of social care workers.

“I urge the UK Government to do the right thing and include care workers as eligible for the recently announced ‘Health and Care visa’, so that people who make and have made such an important contribution to our society, particularly recently, can benefit from reduced fees, a fast-track application service, and exemption from the Immigration Health Surcharge."

He added: "The UK Government’s ending of freedom of movement, and no replacement general route for what they have wrongly and offensively deemed ‘lower-skilled’ migrants, will be damaging to social care provision and key Scottish sectors of the Scottish economy.

"Adding social care roles to the SOL would allow employers to recruit international workers at a lower salary threshold of £20,480, instead of the proposed £25,600."

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