Allow Disabled People to Recruit Live-in Carers via Health and Care Worker Visas

On Tuesday 8 November MPs debated the idea of a temporary recovery visa for industries experiencing labour and skills shortages. This was a Westminster Hall debate, led by Tim Farron MP which you can view via one of the links below:

• Watch the debate
• Read a transcript of the debate

Whilst the government have put in place shortage occupation and sponsorship visas to help ease the recruitment shortage in the Health and Social Care sector, they are still failing to recognise that there are over 100,000 Private Employers of Personal Care Assistants who do not qualify for visas to sponsor PAs from abroad. Their recruitment pool has been reduced by a third since Brexit and this hole will never be filled by British workers alone.

Being a live-in PA in particular is a demanding role where basically the PA lives the life of their client rather than their own. This is not a sustainable career long term for most people therefore there will always be a high turnover. The cost-of-living crisis has also made the role of being a Live-in PA even less attractive for British residents – who wants to be paying for accommodation, energy, bills etc when you’re living away at work for long periods of time?!

The most pressing worry in Government seems to be immigration but allowing private employers to recruit their PAs from Europe would have little or no effect on immigration. Most live-in PAs from Europe commute to work and return to their native country when not working. Incredibly, this is often a cheaper alternative than paying for accommodation and taking public transport here.

There also needs to be a levelling up in terms of care funding across the UK. The amount a service user gets doesn’t seem to be calculated by level of support needed, but by postcode which is making it nigh on impossible for those on low funding to recruit.

Being able to employ PAs privately so we can live in our own homes is the most cost-effective way to run private social care, but if we don’t have access to recruit the people we need then this will not only bring devastating and costly consequences but will ultimately take away our right to live independent and fulfilling lives. This is clearly going to be an ongoing battle!