A meeting of the Home Offices’s Migration Advisory Committee to discuss the shortage of care workers failed to resolve the problems caused by the government’s new points- based immigration system.

Peter Cullimore, chairman of the REC’s (Recruitment & Employment Confederation’s) social care and nursing sector group, says the committee, which met on 15 December,  failed “to pick up” the REC’s points that the Youth Mobility Scheme will make the shortage of care workers worse. 

Cullimore, who is managing director at Universal Care, says: “It’s [the new scheme] going to hit a number of residential homes, and mainly domiciliary care agencies that provide live-in care.”

The Youth Mobility Scheme, which came into effect on 27 November, only covers countries where the UK has a reciprocal agreement - Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and Japan.

In contrast, the Working Holidaymakers Scheme, which was phased out on 27 November last year, covered all Commonwealth countries. 

The REC will continue to work with the Home Office to resolve the problem, Cullimore adds.