Stop making much-needed social workers from overseas unwelcome, government told

The government has created an “unwelcome” environment for overseas social workers, the Social Workers Union and BASW has warned.

Despite their importance in filling staffing vacancies, recent policy has focused on making it harder for diaspora social workers to come to the UK, they claim. 

In February home secretary James Cleverly laid out plans to ban overseas care workers from bringing dependents to the UK with them. This follows an earlier announcement in December last year to restrict the number of health and care workers visas.

Recent analysis by The Kings Fund points to the importance of international recruitment in addressing the NHS workforce crisis, with one in every five people working in the health service coming from overseas.

Duc Tran, co-chair of BASW’s Diaspora Special Interest Group, said: “All the diaspora social workers I know are committed and hardworking people who just want to make a positive contribution to the lives and communities which they serve. Their presence adds richness and resilience to the country’s social care sector.

“We must do more to celebrate the contribution of diaspora social workers and stop making them scapegoats for the failings of government policy.”

The warning comes amid reports of modern day slavery increasing in social care, with unscrupulous private care providers.

Calum Gallacher, assistant general secretary of SWU, said: “Overseas social workers make an enormous contribution to the health service here in the UK. Despite this, they face a number of barriers along the way, including practices that are tantamount to modern slavery and an unwelcome working environment fuelled by anti-immigration rhetoric.

“We want to ensure that diaspora social workers are aware of their rights while in the UK and can access a community of peers that is here to support one another.”