Islands Home-In On Polish Staff

Island council chiefs want to import Polish workers to staff a new care home because there are not enough unemployed locals. Orkney Islands Council have to fill 70 vacancies for the £6million development.

But the islands’ booming economy has left them with one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country. In a population of 19,500, there are only 163 people out of work, 50 of them women. The 40-bed home is needed to solve an accommodation crisis, with some elderly patients already being sent to care homes in Caithness on the mainland.

Social work director Harry Garland admitted the only solution was to to recruit from eastern Europe. He said: “From what we know about the working population on Orkney, these people are just not there.”

But councillor Cyril Annal said the real reason for looking abroad was poor staff working conditions. He added: “We train staff, then they leave for other places. They leave because they are mucked around.”