UK Border Agency turns down requests for non-EU social workers

Councils are being prevented from hiring vitally needed social workers from outside the European Union after the introduction of a temporary immigration cap.

UK Border Agency documents reveal it is turning down applications from local authorities to employ qualified social workers from outside the EU. An interim limit of 24,100 non-EU skilled workers entering the country before April next year was imposed in July, ahead of a permanent immigration cap.

A national shortage of qualified social workers was identified last year in Lord Laming’s inquiry into child protection failures. Local authorities say non-EU social workers are desperately needed until new UK training initiatives produce enough staff to meet the skills shortage.

The government has been consulting over next year’s permanent immigration cap, amid concerns from business organisations, including the CBI, that companies are being prevented from recruiting the workers they need. Nick Clegg, the deputy prime minister, and the business secretary, Vince Cable, voiced concerns at the Liberal Democrat conference last week.

The Conservative immigration minister, Damian Green, has acknowledged that an immigration cap would not achieve a big reduction in net immigration – the difference between people coming in and out of the country.

Coventry city council was turned down this month for certificates of sponsorship for “tier 2” skilled social workers. It wanted to recruit seven workers from the US and Canada.

A border agency letter to the council states: “We received many more requests for initial and additional certificates of sponsorship than we had available this month … As a result, only requests for tier 2 general and work permit extensions of leave for new and existing sponsors were successful at this month’s panel.”

Evidence that other councils’ applications have been rejected comes from the Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS). In a submission to the Migration Advisory Committee, which is consulting on next year’s cap, it states: “We are aware of two specific examples of where the interim cap is having an immediate detrimental effect on local authorities’ abilities to fulfil their safeguarding and child protection responsibilities.

“One local authority in the south-east with 16,000 employees has been told by [the UK Border Agency] that it may only have a total this year of five work permits including for any existing overseas staff.

“The local authority already has 40 overseas workers and is expecting a further 11 social workers from Canada to join the staff later this month.

“Another south-east local authority is similarly anticipating the arrival of some 25 social workers from the US – all of course requiring work permits.

“Whilst we are sure that it is not the government’s intention to undermine the recruitment of qualified, highly skilled social workers,the interim cap and proposed future limits on economic migration to the UK from outside of the EU arealready and will continue to have an extremely damaging impact on local authorities’ ability to care for and protect vulnerable children, young people and their families.”

Lord Laming’s report following the death of Peter Connelly in Haringey, London, concluded that the government must urgently implement graduate training programmes to meet the shortage of qualified child protection social workers.

Colin Green, an ADCS policy committee chairman and Coventry’s director of children’s services, said: “The evidence is that councils have been rejected for work permits since the introduction of the interim cap. There were no reported problems before July.

“The difficulty is in recruiting experienced social workers. Government initiatives may increase the supply in the long term, but not in the short term.There are more jobs and the supply has not kept up. This is a national issue, these are high-pressure jobs and it is difficult to retain people in certain positions.”

Jeremy Oppenheim, the UK Border Agency’s national lead for temporary migration, said: “Under the interim limit, employers who urgently need to fill jobs in key shortage occupations, including children and families’ social work, can seek additional permits. There is already a streamlined route to recruit overseas social workers working with children and families, as the profession is on the UK Border Agency’s shortage occupation list.

“Ahead of introducing the permanent limit, we are consulting widely with employers and partners, including those in the social care sector, to ensure that their views and needs are taken into account.

“The government will also introduce measures to support British people. Alongside limits will be action to get Britain back to work and provide employers with the skills they need from the resident workforce — reducing the need for migrants at the same time as we reduce their number.”The 24,100 cap on tier 1 (highly skilled) and tier 2 (skilled) workers is a 5% reduction on last year’s total of 25,400.

But a Home Office spokesman said tier 1 applications were not being restricted, meaning a larger cut on tier 2 applications — which includes family social workers.The temporary cap was introduced to prevent a flood of applications ahead of the permanent cap’s introduction next April. It has been imposed on top of the previous Labour government’s Australian-style points based system, designed to allow skilled workers into the country when a need is identified.The British Association of Social Workers has also raised concerns to the Commons’ home affairs select committee inquiry considering next year’s immigration cap.

Of recruiting non-EU social workers, it states: “It is clear from evidence supplied by our members that a considerable number of local authorities have replied upon the recruitment of social workers to plug gaps. …There is compelling evidence of the importance of overseas social workers to critical areas of child care.”