ReWAGE migration report published
The Renewing Work Advisory Group of Experts (ReWAGE) has published an evidence paper examining the role of migration and the impacts of immigration policy on the UK’s health and care workforce. It highlights the impact of staff shortages in driving overseas recruitment across the health and care sectors, and how this may have future risks for employers.
Developed by the Migration Observatory on behalf of ReWAGE, with the support of NHS Employers and Trust For London, the new report notes that while international recruitment is helpful for employers trying to recruit staff in the short run, it does not address the underlying challenges in hiring and retaining domestically trained workers, who still make up most of the workforce.
It also concludes that if heavy reliance on international recruitment continues to persist, the UK could become more vulnerable to changes in employers’ ability to recruit from abroad, for example, due to competition from other countries such as the USA.
Key statistics from the report include that:
- in the year ending March 2023, almost 100,000 skilled workers received visas to work in health and care jobs in the UK, making up more than half of all skilled worker route work visas
- by October 2022, 47 per cent of fully qualified secondary-care doctors registered to practice in one of the four nations of the UK had received their primary qualification outside of the UK or Ireland
- by March 2023, 21 per cent of people on the Nursing and Midwifery Council register were trained overseas, up from around 15 per cent five years earlier
- in the year ending March 2023, 57,700 care and senior care workers received skilled work visas
- the share of people in the residential care sector who worked for an employer that held a sponsor license increased from 10 to 39 per cent from February 2022 to March 2023 – the first 13 months after care workers became eligible for skilled work visas.
You can read the full report on the ReWAGE website.
ReWAGE is an independent expert advisory group modelled on SAGE that is co-chaired by the Universities of Warwick and Leeds. It analyses the latest work and employment research to advise the government on addressing the challenges facing the UK’s productivity and prosperity, such as COVID-19, the cost-of-living crisis and labour shortages.
