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Lancashire Times
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10:12 AM 19th February 2020
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Fears For Social Care After Immigration Decision

 
Social care would be dealt a devastating blow if plans to end freedom of movement following Brexit go ahead, campaigners warned today.

There are already around 120,000 unfilled vacancies in social care. Previous estimates have warned that there would be 115,000 fewer care workers from overseas if freedom of movement ended, by 2026.

By contrast, some estimates say an increasingly ageing population will need an extra 700,000 care workers by 2030.

Speaking after the news that the Government plans to end visas for so-called low-skilled workers from overseas, Mike Padgham, chair of Independent Care Group warned: “This would be a devastating blow for social care and would lead to hundreds of thousands more people not getting the care they need.

“The truth is that we already have 1.5m people living without the care they need – a number that is growing every day. We need more care staff now and we are going to need many thousands more to care for an ageing population in the future.

“If the Government prevents the sector from recruiting from overseas, then where are these extra staff going to come from?”

Mr Padgham said the Government had failed to address chronic under-funding of social care which meant that the sector was in crisis.

“Now, if they put this upon us too, the situation is going to be unbearable,” he added.

“In reality, social care work is highly skilled, but because of a lack of funding in the sector, is not highly paid and so care workers will not meet the visa criteria, starving providers of the overseas staff they need to fill their shifts.

“This will heap further pressure on an already crumbling social care sector which will in turn pile more pressure on NHS healthcare, which will have to pick up the pieces when less and less social care is available.

“It defies belief and increases the urgency for the Government to tackle social care, starting with measures to support care in next month’s budget.”