Go to care homes and hospitals and see how short staffed they are.

This is a bad decision when other Western countries are trying to lure carers into their country

This program well intended is hijacked by criminals. Exploiting immigrants. They’re charged enormous amounts of pounds to issue sponsorship documents. Sometimes without job. Government reviews and intervention is very important

Despite Cleverly’s claim that there are plenty more fish in the sea, unencumbered with family commitments, it seems inevitable that there will be a drop in applicants for UK care jobs. Moreover, these applicants are likely to be less committed to maintaining a career in Healthcare- without mouths to feed except their own, they have the luxury of being able to hop to better-paid employment at the first opportunity.

Employers will therefore have to try to out-bid their rivals in the job market in order to attract sufficient numbers of successful applicants, and due to the workforce being less committed, will also incur increased recruitment, employment and training costs. (To see if I’m right, keep an eye on workforce retention figures over the next year or so).

Equally inevitable is the outcome, which will be that employers react by increasing wages and salaries. There’s only so much that can be attained by offering better terms and conditions, so it is the wages and salaries that will differentiate one employer firm another in the applicant’s eyes.

Wages costs therefore increase, but how does this benefit the Government?

Given that it looks increasingly likely that the next Government is likely to be a Labour-led one, is there an element of handing over a poisoned chalice in the latest announcement? Call me cynical if you wish…..but the impact of the changes won’t be felt for a year or so, so won’t negatively impact the incumbent administration.

Labour, however, will inherit a poorly functioning marketplace, where the independent providers upon who the market relies to deliver care will see margins squeezed further. Any pressures in that direction increase the likelihood of provider failure or withdrawal from the marketplace.

James Cleverly might be scheming to hand over problems for his successor.

People are choosing better paid not too stressful jobs for their own wellbeing.

The women coming from outside of the UK will be coming from countries where culturally women are generally seen as the responsible adults to look after their children, so leaving them behind to come to the UK to care for others is something which may not appeal to them. When we desperately need them to cover the carer shortages in social care and to some extent, the shortages of NHS staff in the NHS, but social care has to be the priority.

But, the shortage of staffing is not a problem due to insufficient people coming from outside the UK for that is a much-needed advantage. The real problems are the state of social care in the UK, mainly the totally too low pay rate of social care workers, even the increased rate from 1 April 2024 of £11.44 is still nowhere near the required amount for it needs to be a starting rate of £15 per hour. While, pay is a major consideration there are many more being

sufficient travel expenses not just mileage, but travel time,

a proper sick pay arrangement and not reliant on the Statutory Sick Pay, which again is far too low,

proper recognition of holidays, especially Bank Holidays, and much more

Now, while most care workers come from the private sector by employment of Care Homes or in home care, care providers the real payments come from Local Authorities, (LAs) in either Care Home fees or payments to care providers. There are some self-funders but not that many compared to the number of nonself-funders and also in home care people in need of care employing their own carers through either LAs with Direct Payments or from health with Personal Health Budgets or a mixture of both. However, LAs have been deliberately been kept short of funding due to enforcing Austerity Cuts imposed by Tory Governments since 2010.

Until LAs are given sufficient funding so they can pay Care Homes and Home Care providers sufficient funding to pay workers £15 per hour and all the other areas the staff shortages will only get worse and so much more so now down the Cleverly, so not very clever on him and the rest of the Rishi Tory government, but even a Starmer government won’t be any better.

So pain and suffering and many more deaths will occur in Care Homes and in homes of people receiving home care, perhaps many more so than during the recent COVID pandemic and any more pandemics sure to come.

For even after COVID the lessons won’t be learned for they never are for there is no willingness to learn by any governments, they just ‘Carry on Regardless’ should be made into a film.