New visa rules impacting the number of care workers coming into the UK will not affect provision in Sheffield, the city\u2019s head of social care has told ShefNews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As of March 11, health workers are restricted from bringing dependents, their family and other workers into the country, and must register with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) if they are sponsoring workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Workers were previously welcomed to fill the vacancy gap for carers after COVID, but the government is now tightening the rules, with critics of the policy warning less people will come to work in the UK due to the changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Councillor Angela Argenzio, Chair of the Adult Health and Social Care Policy Committee, said the new rules should not affect Sheffield, despite a gap of social workers – as they do not actively recruit from abroad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She said: \u201cWe made the decision as a committee that we did not want to advertise because there is a shortage of care workers and care practitioners not just in the UK but in other other countries; and we felt that it wasn\u2019t right.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
While the council does not stop people applying for roles from out of the country, says Coun Argenzio, it does not receive government funding to recruit from abroad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, like other places, the city is still experiencing a drought of care workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She said: \u201cThis is not a Sheffield problem, this is a national problem. It\u2019s not just about care workers but also social workers, that\u2019s one of the areas in the care sector where we are struggling to recruit because it\u2019s a really pressurised profession, there\u2019s very heavy caseloads because there is a shortage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBefore Brexit it was much easier for people to come to this country and work. It\u2019s such a fundamental occupation that, all of us at some point will need care, or someone we love will need care so it is a real worry but in Sheffield it isn\u2019t worse than in other places, it\u2019s a national problem too.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Coun Argenzio said she was confident the city had the right mix of care providers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s very important as well is that we have a varied provision so people can make choices about what kind of care they want, so people can be as independent as they can,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPeople live better when they are independent, and when they are at home in particular.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
New visa rules impacting the number of care workers coming into the UK will not affect provision in Sheffield, the city\u2019s head of social care has told ShefNews.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":639,"featured_media":57977,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21,85],"tags":[38,141,131],"class_list":["post-57962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-top-story-2","tag-sheffield","tag-sheffield-city-council","tag-south-yorkshire"],"yoast_head":"\n