Reform Council Leader Urges Labour To Reconsider Visa Tightening For Care Workers

The leader of a Reform-run region assembly has written to nan authorities to definitive “grave concern” astir a planned tightening of visas for wellness and attraction workers, contempt nan party’s wider committedness to importantly reducing nett migration.

Linden Kemkaran – nan leader of Kent council, which is 1 of 10 authorities successful England tally by Nigel Farage’s statement since May – said nan changes, including an imminent extremity to nan circumstantial visa way for attraction workers, could person a important effect connected section attraction homes.

Kemkaran and Diane Morton, nan council’s furniture personnel for societal care, said nan changes risked seeing an exodus of overseas attraction staff, arsenic they highlighted nan effect connected nan assemblage of a emergence successful employer nationalist security contributions (NICs) successful nan budget.

In a missive to Yvette Cooper, nan location secretary, and Stephen Kinnock, nan attraction minister, they said that astir 20% to 25% of nan county’s societal attraction workforce was from overseas and capable to activity via licensed sponsorships from employers.

This way expires connected 22 July, portion of a wider tightening of migration rules, including connected wellness and attraction visas, announced by nan government successful May. The Reform councillors’ missive warned astir nan effect connected “a number of displaced societal attraction workers who whitethorn person mislaid their jobs, aliases nan sponsoring supplier has mislaid their licence”.

When attraction workers’ existing visas expire, they wrote, to support a visa they would request to gain astatine slightest £41,000 a year, nan caller minimum net for skilled worker visas. Added to nan NICs rise, “this is wholly unsustainable, and nan consequence is that galore attraction workers astatine this level will spell location and time off providers connected a cliff edge”, nan missive said.

They added: “Due to nan challenges facing nan big societal attraction strategy successful general, and attraction providers successful particular, we impulse you to reconsider these changes and look guardant to your support successful addressing these urgent pressing matters.”

While Reform does not person a definitive nationalist position connected this issue, nan wide attack group retired by Farage and his chap MPs has been to push many times for a important autumn successful wide migration and curbs to activity visas.

In May, Farage said attraction unit were not skilled and overseas attraction workers should only beryllium allowed successful connected strictly time-limited visas. More widely, he has called for zero nett migration, meaning location tin beryllium nary much arrivals than departures.

Richard Tice, Reform’s lawman leader, has said Britons should do attraction activity alternatively than what he termed “a never-ending watercourse of cheap, low-skilled labour from overseas”.

Reform UK and nan Home Office were contacted for comment.