A SCOTTISH Government scheme to sponsor “displaced” international care workers has helped employers recruit more than 100 staff.
It emerged as the Scottish Government said adult social care workforce will be increased by up to 45,000 extra hours a month.
First Minister John Swinney announced in October last year that the Scottish Government would invest £500,000 to fund a tailored offer to help care workers who have found themselves without sponsored employment elsewhere in the UK.
Swinney made the statement during his keynote speech at the SNP conference in Aberdeen, in defiance of the UK Labour Government’s move to close care worker visa routes for overseas recruitment earlier that year.
And now the Scottish Government has said that the Adult Social Care Displaced Workers Scheme has reopened applications to allow more care workers to come to Scotland.
Officials said that the scheme had already helped 37 employers recruit 120 workers.
Swinney spoke ahead of a visit to The Bughties care home in Dundee, where he will meet workers recruited through the scheme.
“We are all too familiar with the challenges facing our adult social care sector, especially given our ageing population, and it’s why we must ensure services meet our growing demand for care,” the First Minister said.
“I committed to provide an extra 45,000 hours of care each month and we have begun to deliver that increase within the first 100 days of the new government.
“UK Government decisions on immigration have inflicted pain on our social care sector at a time when demand for care is increasing and its choices on tax have heaped an £84 million bill on the sector by increasing Employers’ National Insurance contributions.
“The Prime Minister has spoken about reforming social care services, but meaningful reform requires a workforce to deliver it.
“I urge him to reconsider and to reverse the harm done by the UK Government over the past two years.
“I am grateful to have the opportunity to hear first-hand the positive impact our scheme has had and how we can, and must, explore every option available to ensure we continue to make a positive difference to people’s lives and to a service which we all may one day need.”
The Adult Social Care Displaced Worker Scheme covers additional costs which employers face when hiring a displaced worker already in the UK who has lost an employer’s sponsorship and where there are unfilled vacancies.
