Getting to the point

Emma Brooksbank, a partner specialising in business immigration at law firm Freeths explains how Brexit will affect health and care workers seeking employment in the UK

The 2021 immigration system From next year there will be fundamental changes to the UK’s immigration system for skilled workers, the most significant being the inclusion of European nationals. For the first time businesses that have relied on a European workforce will need to understand the requirements of the immigration rules to recruit any overseas nationals, including Europeans. This will significantly impact the health and care sectors which have relied on a European workforce to meet essential workforce skills requirements. Time to secure an immigration licence If a care provider anticipates recruiting any overseas nationals into skilled roles, it will need an immigration licence. The government intends to open key routes from this autumn. Employers that are not approved by the Home Office to be a sponsor should seek approval now if they think they will need to sponsor skilled migrants, including those from the EU, from early next year. The licence process can be complex and time consuming and there’s likely be a surge of applications at the end of the year, so the sooner a provider can secure the licence the better. Key changes Many providers already hold Tier 2 licences which allows them to sponsor skilled overseas workers. The system will become more open and new roles will be available for sponsorship. Employers can expect to use their licence much more regularly as new European recruitment falls under the licencing system.

The government’s announcement on 19 February confirms there will be some changes to the skilled visa route. These include the removal of the cap on visas issued and the removal of the requirement to advertise a role to the resident labour market before offering it to an overseas national. These changes will make the system more open for use by British businesses.

The anticipated changes to the immigration system may well provide opportunities for a care provider to look to the overseas market to recruit the workforce it needs. By way of an example, residential managers (residential home), healthcare support workers, senior care assistants and team leaders (nursing home) all fall within the new immigration system.

A significant change will be the ability to trade points. A prospective employee may score fewer points on salary but be able to make these up with points for working in a shortage occupation. For example, a nurse earning £22,000 may not be earning enough to score points for salary but may score additional points if this role was, as it is now, defined as being in a shortage occupation. The government has also confirmed a reduction in salary threshold from £30,000 to £25,600 with a further reduction to £20,480 for shortage occupations and certain Ph.D level roles. As now, there will be lower salary thresholds for new entrants to the labour market. These changes will be welcomed by the care sector which have been concerned about how to meet its skilled labour requirements post-Brexit. When planning recruitment, businesses will be able to recruit skilled employees from anywhere in the world. Lower skilled work Of significant concern to the care sector will be the exclusion of any scheme for lower skilled workers. The government proposes that employers look to the resident population and proposes to introduce post-study work visas for international students and youth mobility to meet the demand for lower skilled work. Care workers are considered to fall into a lower skilled classification. The government also suggest that investment in technology and automation could offer a solution, but it is difficult to see how this will benefit the care sector. What to do now The 2021 immigration will need to inform business planning and recruitment strategy for 2021 onwards. Following the recent announcements, securing a licence will now be at the top of the list of priorities for many UK businesses. n Securing a licence will now be at the top of the list of priorities for many UK businesses