Sponsor Licence Compliance in the Healthcare Sector
Our Immigration Solicitors look at the highlights of the Chief Inspector’s report on the social care sector and the Home Office response dated March 2024.
Care home and nursing home owners have been awaiting the report from The Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration’s report on the healthcare sector and the Home Office response.
All the early indications were that the report would be critical of sponsor licence holders and many in the care sector who hold sponsor licences wanted to get the report to review it and adapt their sponsor licence practices in light of the recommendations and the Home Office response.
Our Immigration Solicitors look at the key points in the report entitled ‘An inspection of the immigration system as it relates to the social care sector’ and the Home Office response dated 26 March 2024.
UK Online and London-Based Immigration Solicitors and Sponsorship Licence Lawyers
For sponsor licence, employment and immigration advice call OTS Solicitors on 0203 959 9123 or contact us online.
The inspector’s report
The inspection covered the period from August to November 2023 and so does not look at the impact of:
- Salary -the increase in the minimum salary threshold for some Health and Care Worker Visas
- Dependants - the decision to stop carers and senior carers on Health and Care Worker Visas from bringing family members with them to England on Dependant Visas
The popularity of the Health and Care Worker Visa
The Home Office had forecast the issuing of around 6,000 to 40,000 Health and Care Worker Visas when the government first introduced the specialist Work Visa as part of the Skilled Worker Visa route.
The report records what all nursing home and care home owners know; to get sufficient staff as carers and senior carers they must recruit from overseas. The statistics speak for themselves. Instead of the maximum forecasted figure of 40,000 Health and Care Worker Visas, the actual figure for these visas between 1 February 2022 to 31 October 2023 was just over 146,000 visas. This figure includes all the Dependant Visas issued with Health and Care Worker Visas during that period.
The popularity of sponsor licences to sponsor Health and Care Worker Visa applicants
In November 2023 the number of sponsor licences stood at just under 95,000. Over around 3 years sponsor licences had increased by around a third. That isn’t surprising given Brexit, the end of free movement of EU nationals, combined with the difficulties in attracting British citizens to work as carers in the adult healthcare industry and other sectors, such as hospitality.
It is equally unsurprising that the Home Office started to express concerns about sponsor licence compliance, including in the healthcare sector, as despite the increase in licences there was no corresponding staffing increase in the Home Office compliance team. As all Sponsorship Licence lawyers and care home and nursing home owners know it is best to be proactive when it comes to sponsor licence management but that can be difficult for care home owners when they are not getting input from Home Office officials.
The gaps
The report highlights the distance between the Home Office and sponsor licence holders. Home Office officials thought they were doing a good job in holding events for sponsor licence holders whilst care home and nursing home owners wanted concrete guidance on what to do to achieve sponsor licence compliance and avoid sponsor licence suspension.
The Home Office does not believe there were deficiencies in its interaction with care homes and nursing home owners but this is something that our Sponsorship Licence lawyers see in practice when we take over responsibility for the sponsor licence management of a care home or a nursing home or provide bespoke training for key personnel. Many of the complaints levied at sponsor licence holders are just down to care home and nursing home owners not understanding what is expected of them or being under similar administrative pressures as the Home Office.
The report recommendations and Home Office response
The report makes 5 recommendations, all of which were accepted by the Home Office.
- Review of route
The Inspectorate recommended a complete review of the addition of care workers and home carers to the Skilled Worker route, as committed to in the Equality Impact Assessment of January 2022. The Home Office says this review is underway
- Sponsor licensing
The Inspectorate recommended a review of the sponsor licensing application and decision-making process in collaboration with ‘’industry leads and sector experts to learn from the characteristics of poor licensing decisions and the resulting problems to inform future decision-making’’. The Home Office says this is also underway to help safeguard workers from exploitation and improve sponsor licence processes with the Home Office review to be completed within 3 months and with an expected implementation date of July 2024.
- Compliance
The Inspectorate recommended the Home Office conduct a review of headcount, performance targets, and processes for each area of compliance to ensure that workflow is managed efficiently. This is also underway with an implementation date of July 2024.
- Multi-agency agreement
The Inspectorate recommended working with enforcement and regulatory partners to develop and agree on a multi-partner memorandum of understanding to address multi-agency responsibility in the care sector as well as the sharing of information and best practices on matters such as worker safeguarding and care sector regulation. The Home Office said it had been working with the Care Quality Commission and the Department of Health and Social Care and with various government departments and agencies with a plan to implement change by May 2024.
- Guidance for Health and Care Worker Visa applicants
The Inspectorate recommended the production of a ‘’migrant’s guide to UK employment rights’’ by agencies working together to assist Health and Care Worker Visa applicants and workers in understanding their legal rights and how to report safeguarding concerns to the Home Office and relevant care sector partners, such as local authorities. The Home Office plans to produce this document by July 2024.
Sponsor licence compliance solicitors
Our Sponsorship Licence Lawyers have substantial experience in advising on the healthcare sector and sponsor licence management and can help your business with all its sponsor licence, business immigration and employment law needs.
UK Online and London-Based Immigration Solicitors and Sponsorship Licence Lawyers
For sponsor licence, employment and business immigration advice call OTS Solicitors on 0203 959 9123 or contact us online.
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