MP Welcomes New Care Workers Regulations
Edinburgh West MP Christine Jardine has welcomed the new immigration regulations for care workers spelled out today in the Commons by Labour Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood.
Ms Jardine said they would provide the sort of long-term security that care providers have told her were needed to ensure they continue to have the staff they require to provide services in the city.
The new so called Earned Settlement rules will make it easier for those in the care and other sections of the health service to remain in this country so long as they are committed to that sector and pay tax and national insurance.
It also for the first time recognises the contribution of those NHS and care workers who did so much for this country during the Covid pandemic.
Ms Jardine said: “I am relieved that finally a UK Government is listening to the arguments I have been making since 2019.
“These measures outlined today will, I hope, provide a solution to the problems so many of social care providers in Edinburgh West have brought to me over the past two years.
“They had been concerned that the previous immigration measures originally outlined would make it impossible for the workers who are vital to the services they provide being able to remain in this country.
“By making these exceptions for those working in care, and in specifically recognising those who came to work in the sector in the immediate post Covid crisis, keeping services going, it is exactly what we have been calling for.”