On a typical day in 2022, there were 165,000 job vacancies in the care sector. In just eight years, there is predicted to be an additional 627,000 staff needed to work in the sector.
Looking at these figures, it’s obvious that we need solutions to the challenge of recruiting for care roles and filling the skills gap. There has been movement from the Government to support domestic recruitment and there are talks of funding and qualification reforms. However, our focus must be on looking for solutions at home and abroad to hire people with the right skills and values to pursue a career in the care sector.
Overseas recruitment can be a bone of contention; for some, it feels complicated and mired in a mountain of administrative red tape and for others it feels like a risk to their existing staff. However, there are ways to handle concerns and recruit for care roles successfully from overseas to the benefit of your company, team and care users.
Be prepared
Before beginning your company’s journey into overseas recruitment, it’s essential that you are prepared as a business. Check whether you can get a sponsorship licence because this underpins the entire process. If you have any unspent criminal convictions for immigration, or other crimes, and/or have previously had a sponsorship licence revoked in the last 12 months, you will not be accepted as a sponsor.
Alongside salary requirements for a role, sponsored employees must also be qualified doctors, nurses, health professionals or social care professionals. The role must qualify and be eligible for sponsorship and you must be a Home Office approved UK health and care sector employer.
Finally, three key roles will need to be filled with your organisation. You will need to appoint an authorising officer to manage the recruitment process and take responsibility for the staff using the sponsor management system. You will also need a key contact for the UK visas and immigration. Lastly, you will need to assign a main or ‘Level 1’ user who handles the day-to-day management of your licence through the sponsorship management system. These roles can be fulfilled by the same person, or by different people in the organisation.
These first steps will ensure you start on the right foot through the process of bolstering your team through overseas recruitment.
The story so far
While laws and requirements have undoubtedly changed since the UK left the EU, there has been action taken to simplify the process of recruiting overseas for UK employers and make it easier for those outside of the UK to work here. For example, the Health and Care Worker visa, which became available in August 2020, includes fast-track entry to the UK and exemption from the Immigration Health Surcharge – this alone could save most workers just over £600 per year. Another measure taken by the Government in December 2021 is the addition of care staff to the official Shortage Occupation List. This intended to help to recruit thousands of extra workers to the sector from overseas.
Further measures are being introduced to make the sector a more attractive long-term option for workers, including a £500m fund for training and career development. This incorporates a new Care Certificate qualification, ending the need for workers to repeat the training when they switch roles.According to the Migration Advisory Committee, many overseas workers still view the care sector as one with promise, seeing the sector as easy to move into and with flexible roles – making it an attractive position should UK care providers choose to advertise and recruit overseas.
Other rule changes have also helped to make the field more appealing to overseas workers with families that they would like to bring to the UK. The new Health and Care visa rules allow applicants and their dependents to benefit from fast-tracking of the visa process and reduced visa fees.
Taking your time to read through and understand the changes and requirements can help to make the process feel less daunting and prepare you to begin the overseas recruitment journey.
Problem solving
One of the greatest concerns for many providers when considering overseas recruitment is navigating Government bureaucracy. The Migration Advisory Committee found that for many employers, a lack of familiarity with the process coupled with the fear of making mistakes during the application process caused many to avoid the process altogether. However, as with many things, once you begin to work your way through, the process will feel easier. There are agencies that can support you and while this will incur additional costs, if it puts business minds at rest and ensures a successful recruitment process, it could be worth the investment.
The overall cost of recruiting a single worker from overseas can vary substantially depending on how the process is managed. Providers that are comfortable and able to manage this internally have reported costs of around £9,000 per worker. In contrast, those who choose to enlist the assistance of solicitors and recruitment agents have reported costs of £12,000 per worker. A key factor to note is that recruitment agencies should never charge applicants to match them to roles. Therefore, if you choose to engage an agency to assist you with offers to work for free, you should make sure they are not charging the applicants because this is contrary to best practice guidelines.
The minimum salary requirements are another source of potential difficulty mentioned by some employers because this must reach a minimum of £20,480 annually and an hourly rate of £10.10. This may change the roles businesses plan to use overseas recruitment to fill but can also bring a breadth of experience to roles previously not considered.
Another step which can make the process more complicated is that the DBS check system for criminal records will only be valid for offences that may have been carried out in the UK. Employers wishing to be absolutely sure of the legal status of applicants will have to navigate the criminal records checks of their country of origin. Again, while this may seem challenging, it can be navigated with research and careful planning and doesn’t have to put a stop to your plans to recruit overseas.
Adopt best practice
Central to successfully bolstering care provision with recruitment from overseas is the adoption of a robust ethics policy. Ensure this is an understood part of your company culture and meets your duty of care to both domestic and overseas recruits. Balancing the feelings of existing staff, who may feel unsettled, alongside those of new team members adjusting to a new country and culture, is key to making efforts to recruit internationally a success.
A code of ethics based on principles set out by the World Health Organization is recommended by the Government. Following this code will ensure your approach is transparent and safeguard the interests of the applicants involved.
There are also ‘bite-size’ guides and resources available that can help you understand what needs to form your ethics policy. In this scenario, this covers the requisite for criminal records checks to safeguard future recipients of an applicant’s care, through to more pastoral items such as inductions, welcome packs and opportunities to bond and socialise with their new team. Remembering that any candidate from overseas is not only adjusting to a new role but is also undergoing a major life change of living in a new country and culture, is equally important. It is the pastoral responsibility to look after their wellbeing and help them settle into the new environment.
Bringing in overseas staff may be unsettling for your current workforce. I would encourage employers to involve existing staff in the onboarding process to get to know their new colleagues – it’s a positive way to combat any unease. Also, working with your existing team to let them know the reasons for the move to overseas recruitment may help reassure them about the change. Explain the positives of having new cultures and experiences within the team for both them and the care user. The advantages of adding to a stretched team will be obvious but helping them to understand why this hasn’t been possible with domestic recruitment can be a major help to ensuring the process is smooth for all involved.
Consider reviewing your company’s human resources and staff management processes as part of the change to the workforce. Digitisation enables documents to be stored online and be fully accessible at any time. It will also allow for paperwork to be completed online, saving the need to send important documents in the post and risk loss. Bringing all staff into a simpler digital platform for time management also has the advantage of saving time throughout the business. Time saved on entering timesheets and putting in leave requests can give staff greater time to work together and gel as a team, no matter where they are from.
Realising the potential
Although the process of overseas recruitment may seem intimidating, especially for smaller care providers, it has great power to ease the staffing crisis in the sector and fill the skills gap we currently face. There is no reason that eligible companies cannot recruit from overseas with careful planning and a best practice approach. If you can take on the additional cost, agency and legal help can make life easier. However, legal and agency help is very much optional to you and your recruitment journey. While the process may feel difficult at first, the more you do it, the easier it becomes.