Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has for the recruitment of new social care staff after the implementation of the points-based immigration system in January 2021.

It is the Government’s long-term ambition to recruit more people into social care to meet the future needs of society. In the short term, in order to attract people into social care now, we launched a new national recruitment campaign, ‘Care for others; Make a difference’, which ran across broadcast, digital and social media. We have also launched a new online platform to fast-track recruitment into the adult social care sector, which will sit alongside the many local initiatives that have been put in place to recruit staff.

The new Health and Care visa will make it cheaper, quicker and easier for eligible social care professions such as social workers, occupational therapists and nurses from around the world to come to work the United Kingdom. In addition all social care workers will now be permanently exempt from paying the Immigration Health Surcharge.