‘If you go to Saudi, it’s sunny’: foreign care workers could quit UK after clampdown

Ban on bringing dependants has raised fears that England’s care staff shortage will only worsenIt’s sunnier in Dubai, the visa lasts longer in the US and the wages are better in Canada. Many foreign care workers had already been thinking of quitting Br…

Ban on bringing dependants has raised fears that England’s care staff shortage will only worsen

It’s sunnier in Dubai, the visa lasts longer in the US and the wages are better in Canada. Many foreign care workers had already been thinking of quitting Britain for similar jobs elsewhere before the home secretary announced on Monday that dependants of new applicants would no longer be welcome.

Experts say the move, effective from next spring, will only make England’s severe care staff shortage worse amid international competition for people willing to look after society’s most vulnerable on low pay.

Continue reading...

Tory plan to cut net legal immigration is more drastic than most MPs expected

Clampdown announced by James Cleverly is a shift in strategy by the government, which is rated poorly by the public on the issueSoon after James Cleverly was announced as the new home secretary, one Labour frontbencher expressed surprise at the appoint…

Clampdown announced by James Cleverly is a shift in strategy by the government, which is rated poorly by the public on the issue

Soon after James Cleverly was announced as the new home secretary, one Labour frontbencher expressed surprise at the appointment.

“This must be the most liberal home secretary we’ve had in years – including during the Labour years,” the person said.

Continue reading...

Neglect, deflect, then scapegoat those you’ve exploited: that’s what passes for UK immigration policy | Nesrine Malik

The frenzied debate about ‘record levels’ of net migration ignores the true cause of it allThe headline, now increasing in pitch, capital letters and exclamation marks, is that net migration is off the charts. It is soaring. It is at an all-time high. …

The frenzied debate about ‘record levels’ of net migration ignores the true cause of it all

The headline, now increasing in pitch, capital letters and exclamation marks, is that net migration is off the charts. It is soaring. It is at an all-time high. So high that we ask, how did it come to this? The answer is, it came to this predictably and, in fact, inevitably. The way immigration numbers are reported is a sort of classification error, one forced by the overriding, unquestioned presumption that immigration is bad, that it must come down, and that politicians are in some duel with “hordes” of immigrants who are making their way into the country, managing somehow to vanquish one of the harshest immigration systems in the world.

More accurate headlines might be “UK skilled worker shortage intensifies”, “Loss of European Union research funding renders British universities increasingly dependent on overseas students”, “Business leaders call for expansion of shortage occupations due to post-Brexit recruitment challenges”, or “Funding cuts to nurse training result in staffing crisis”. Because these apparently vexingly high numbers are, to a large extent, the outcome of economic and political decisions that mean we invite immigrants to fill labour gaps that policymakers either did not anticipate, or ignored warnings about.

Continue reading...

Thousands of new foster carers urgently needed in England, experts say

Social workers scrambling to find places for children after net loss of 1,000 foster families in past yearChild protection experts have called for an urgent nationwide hunt for thousands of new foster carers after a net loss of 1,000 families in the pa…

Social workers scrambling to find places for children after net loss of 1,000 foster families in past year

Child protection experts have called for an urgent nationwide hunt for thousands of new foster carers after a net loss of 1,000 families in the past year and a record number of children being placed far from home.

Social workers have described scrambling to find friends and family to take children in urgent need of safety, and reported that children are sometimes placed in hotels.

Continue reading...

Thousands of new foster carers urgently needed in England, experts say

Social workers scrambling to find places for children after net loss of 1,000 foster families in past yearChild protection experts have called for an urgent nationwide hunt for thousands of new foster carers after a net loss of 1,000 families in the pa…

Social workers scrambling to find places for children after net loss of 1,000 foster families in past year

Child protection experts have called for an urgent nationwide hunt for thousands of new foster carers after a net loss of 1,000 families in the past year and a record number of children being placed far from home.

Social workers have described scrambling to find friends and family to take children in urgent need of safety, and reported that children are sometimes placed in hotels.

Continue reading...

Norfolk care home accused of waking residents with loud music to save money

Staff at Iceni Care Home say vulnerable residents were treated as if they were ‘on a farm’ to reduce workloadCare workers at a private care home forced dementia sufferers out of bed as early as 5am and woke them by blasting loud radio music to save m…

Staff at Iceni Care Home say vulnerable residents were treated as if they were ‘on a farm’ to reduce workload

Care workers at a private care home forced dementia sufferers out of bed as early as 5am and woke them by blasting loud radio music to save money, whistleblowers have alleged.

The management of Iceni Care Home in Swaffham, Norfolk, received repeated complaints about the practice this summer, as concerned staff said vulnerable residents were being treated as if they were “on a farm” in order to reduce the workload on daycare staff.

Continue reading...

Norfolk care home accused of waking residents with loud music to save money

Staff at Iceni Care Home say vulnerable residents were treated as if they were ‘on a farm’ to reduce workloadCare workers at a private care home forced dementia sufferers out of bed as early as 5am and woke them by blasting loud radio music to save m…

Staff at Iceni Care Home say vulnerable residents were treated as if they were ‘on a farm’ to reduce workload

Care workers at a private care home forced dementia sufferers out of bed as early as 5am and woke them by blasting loud radio music to save money, whistleblowers have alleged.

The management of Iceni Care Home in Swaffham, Norfolk, received repeated complaints about the practice this summer, as concerned staff said vulnerable residents were being treated as if they were “on a farm” in order to reduce the workload on daycare staff.

Continue reading...

Tell us: have you come to Britain to work in the health and care sector?

We’d like to hear from overseas migrants working in the British health and social care sector about their views on plans to curb net migration to the UKThe government’s top immigration adviser has attacked plans to prevent overseas care workers from br…

We’d like to hear from overseas migrants working in the British health and social care sector about their views on plans to curb net migration to the UK

The government’s top immigration adviser has attacked plans to prevent overseas care workers from bringing family members to the UK, warning that to do so could be “very dangerous” for the social care sector.

Net migration to the UK reached a record high of 745,000 in 2022.

Continue reading...

Leicester woman given life term for 2012 murder of one-year-old baby

Katie Tidmarsh found guilty of killing ‘defenceless young child’ she had been in the process of adoptingA woman has been sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 17 years for murdering the one-year-old baby she was in the process of adopting,…

Katie Tidmarsh found guilty of killing ‘defenceless young child’ she had been in the process of adopting

A woman has been sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 17 years for murdering the one-year-old baby she was in the process of adopting, after failing to disclose mental health problems to the adoption panel.

Katie Tidmarsh, 39, was convicted of murdering Ruby Thompson, who sustained catastrophic brain damage and died in hospital in August 2012.

Continue reading...

Tory turmoil hits efforts to fix staffing crisis in adult social care

National Audit Office says political chaos has delayed proposed measures to improve recruitment in EnglandThe government has delayed several key reforms to social care staffing in England due to political chaos caused by the collapse of the Boris Johns…

National Audit Office says political chaos has delayed proposed measures to improve recruitment in England

The government has delayed several key reforms to social care staffing in England due to political chaos caused by the collapse of the Boris Johnson and Liz Truss governments and a Whitehall recruitment freeze, it has emerged.

Work to create new training places and develop the low-paid care workforce was supposed to start in September but has been delayed by at least six months.

Continue reading...