Sponsoring Health Care Workers on the Health and Care Worker Visa
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has said that during 2023 and 2024 it will be making around £15 million of funding available to support international recruitment in the UK adult social care sector. This investment into overseas-based healthcare recruitment is intended to sit alongside plans to improve the number of UK-based applicants applying for and remaining in adult healthcare jobs.
The availability of the specialist health and care worker visa and the dire recruitment situation in the UK adult healthcare sector has led to many healthcare providers applying for sponsor licences to see if they can meet their recruitment needs from overseas. In this blog, our immigration solicitors take a look at sponsor licences for healthcare companies and how to go about sponsoring healthcare workers on the health and care worker visa.
UK Online and London-Based Immigration Solicitors and Sponsorship Licence Lawyers
For advice on sponsor licences and the health and care worker visa call the expert London immigration lawyers at OTS Solicitors on 0203 959 9123 or contact us online.
Sponsor licences to sponsor health care workers
Many adult healthcare providers are small independent companies who are heavily reliant on care staff as adult care provision isn’t a sector where you can automate or come up with high-tech solutions when clients need basic care provision delivered in either residential settings or in their own homes by friendly and caring staff.
Whilst the £15 million of government investment is welcomed by Sponsorship Licence lawyers the reality is that many care home providers and adult healthcare services are already looking to overseas recruitment as their solution to the healthcare sector recruitment crisis. The first step in getting overseas-based staff working for your UK-based healthcare company is to apply to the Home Office for a sponsor licence.
For many small companies, the thought of making a sponsor licence application may seem daunting but it is worth careful consideration because the immigration rules have been changed to include carers and home carers on the shortage occupation list (SOL) thus making it easier to recruit these staff on the health and care worker visa which forms part of the skilled worker visa.
Applying for a sponsor licence to sponsor healthcare workers
Applying for a sponsor licence involves your company meeting these criteria:
- A genuine organisation that is operating lawfully in the UK and is offering employment to overseas migrant workers that is both genuine and meets the pay and skills threshold for the health and care worker visa
- Able to meet the sponsor licence reporting and recording duties through appropriate and robust systems
There are no specific eligibility criteria for years of operation or turnover so being a small independent nursing home or a home help provider should not deter you from applying for a sponsor licence from the Home Office.
If you are concerned about the reference to reporting and recording duties then speak to our Sponsorship Licence lawyers on 0203 959 9123 about what that entails. If you think managing and operating a sponsor licence sounds too onerous then we offer a sponsor licence management service designed to take out much of the red tape of managing your sponsor licence.
Some small adult care providers would prefer to use agency staff so the recruiter or agent sorts out the sponsor licence to sponsor the adult health care worker to come to the UK and then has the ongoing job of sorting out the worker’s sponsorship. This isn’t possible under the immigration rules as the rules say that the sponsored employee must work for the sponsor, rather than work for an agency. That’s why it is best to explore sponsor licence management services if you are wary about what is involved in managing a sponsor licence or if you know that you will struggle to find the time to manage the licence.
Healthcare workers eligible to apply for the health and care worker visa
Healthcare workers need to meet the individual eligibility criteria for the health and care worker visa but just as importantly the job your company is sponsoring them to do must have a standard occupational classification code and be on a list of eligible roles for the health and care worker visa.
Unsurprisingly, doctors, nurses and dentists are on the list of healthcare roles but for a long time, the list of eligible healthcare roles did not include the jobs where recruitment in the UK was at its most problematic. Code number 6145 now includes the following job titles:
- Care assistant
- Care worker
- Carer
- Home care assistant
- Home carer
- Support worker (nursing home)
In addition, the above job roles have now been placed on the government‘s shortage occupation list to reflect the fact that there is a recruitment crisis. The effect of adding these healthcare roles to the shortage occupation list means the minimum salary threshold for the health and care worker visa is reduced to a minimum annual salary of £20,480.
Next steps in applying for a sponsor licence to sponsor healthcare workers
If a sponsor licence is of interest to you the next step is to contact our Sponsorship Licence lawyers on 0203 959 9123 to talk you through the application process and the requirements.
For some business owners, the process will be relatively straight forward whereas for others it may involve our Sponsorship Licence lawyers conducting a pre-sponsor licence audit to check that you are likely to secure a sponsor licence if you make an application to the Home Office. That’s because we don’t want to waste your time or have you pay Home Office application fees if your systems aren’t robust enough to meet the required standards. We can either make recommendations on the easiest ways to adapt your current systems to Home Office requirements or talk to you about sponsor licence management. The option that suits your business may depend on the number of administrative staff you employ and their current workloads as well as your personal preferences.
Some companies prefer to manage their sponsor licence inhouse with ad-hoc support and training from our Sponsorship Licence lawyers whilst others prefer to leave it to our business immigration lawyers to sort out routine sponsor licence reporting and recording leaving the company to focus on the care side of their healthcare business. At OTS Solicitors our Sponsorship Licence lawyers will work with you to enable you to recruit the adult healthcare staff you need from overseas on health and care worker visas.
UK Online and London-Based Immigration Solicitors and Sponsorship Licence Lawyers
For advice on sponsor licences and the health and care worker visa call the expert London immigration lawyers at OTS Solicitors on 0203 959 9123 or contact us online.
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