Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of reducing the minimum salary requirement for settlement in the UK for physiotherapists in response to (a) high vacancy rates in NHS physiotherapy services and (b) the time being taken for the Government to take a decision on the Migration Advisory Committee recommendation to add physiotherapists to the Shortage Occupation List.

Under the new Skilled Worker route, we have already reduced the salary requirements physiotherapists need to meet to gain settlement from £35,800 to the national pay scale for their occupation. This applies whether or not they are included on the Shortage Occupation List.

Whilst we have considered carefully the possible impacts of the new immigration system, additional variables such as the impact of Covid-19 on the UK Labour Market require closer examination. To avoid taking a piecemeal approach to implementing the Migration Advisory Committee’s advice, we need to review the various influences on migration flows and the labour market, including introduction of a new immigration system, and whether this is in line with our anticipated outcomes, before considering which changes are required to the Shortage Occupation List.