Health And Care Worker Visa Relaxation: Will It Make A Difference?

5,000 HGV driver visas were brought in during October 2021 but only 20 issued. Could lower salaries and inflationary pressures mean the same for the new Health and Care Worker visa?

The Home Office has announced the temporary relaxation of the Immigration Rules for care workers for a period of 12 months, from 15 February 2022. Including social care workers, health care assistants and home care workers, they will now be eligible for a Health and Care Worker visa, with the roles placed on the Shortage Occupation List. This temporary relaxation follows on from other recent announcements to resolve labour shortages such as the temporary visa schemes for poultry workers, pork butchers and HGV drivers to transport food. In this post-Brexit and soon post-pandemic environment, the question is then, are these temporary measures working to resolve the labour shortages or are more long-term solutions required?