Scottish Care has issued on open letter to Jackson Carlaw which highlights key concerns around immigration plans
The care sector has called on senior Scottish Tories to ensure that immigration reforms do not deepen the recruitment crisis.
Scottish Care has issued on open letter to Jackson Carlaw, new leader of the Scottish Conservative & Unionist Party, which highlights key concerns around how wage restrictions proposed for foreign workers will hit the sector hard.
The letter expresses the organisation’s profound concerns regarding the impact of the new immigration system on social care in Scotland. It calls for social care to be made an area of priority in order to ensure that we can continue to recruit social care workers from outwith Scotland
Written by Scottish Care chief executive Dr Donald Macaskill, it has also been sent to other leaders of Scottish political parties.
Dr Macaskill said: “The specific reason for writing is to express to you the profound concern of the care sector in Scotland following the announcement of the new immigration system by the Home Secretary.
“Scottish Care has consistently made representation to Westminster officials to highlight the critical importance of the sector being able to recruit from as diverse a field as possible. For a number of years, there has been a growing level of vacancies which now means that nine out of 10 of our members have vacancies for staff which they cannot fill.
“This includes levels of nurse vacancies in some care homes in excess of 30%. We are, therefore, as a sector facing a critical shortage of staff.
“This is felt most especially in some of the most rural and remote areas of Scotland. You will, I know, appreciate the changing demographic challenges we face in Scotland with both an ageing population with increasing levels of health needs and an ageing and reducing pool of workers. Without inward migration we simply will not have sufficient staff to undertake these essential roles.”
Under the UK government’s plans, workers hoping to immigrate to the UK after 31 December 2020 - the date at which the transitional period of Brexit ends - will be assigned points based on their specific skills, professional and academic qualifications, and job prospects in the UK. Work visas will only be given to those who meet the first three requirements—meaning they speak English and have a job offer in the UK that matches their skill level - and have at least 70 points overall.
It is feared that many potential applicants for social care jobs will fall short of the required criteria.
Carlaw said last week he would discuss the proposal to all but end low skilled immigration when he meets the prime minister shortly and claimed it had not been fully understood. He stated he hopes the final version would be "appropriate to Scotland".
