Judicial Review

AN APPEAL FOR SUPPORT FOR OUR CARE WORKERS

Background

For the last 10 years, the Home Office issued more than 20,000 work permits to migrants coming from non-European countries to work as senior care workers (senior care workers are carers for the elderly) in the health and care sectors. The majority of them entered the UK on work permits that then allowed them to apply for indefinite leave to remain after four years of continuous working. In 2006, the requirement of four years work before eligibility for permanent residency was changed to five years. Many senior care workers who were on their fourth year in 2006 were caught by the change and had to re-apply for an extension of their work permit for another year.

In 2007, the Home Office started refusing work permit extensions submitted by employers for their overseas senior care workers. Of those carers whose first applications were expiring and in need of renewal in 2007, 75 per cent of the applications for renewal were refused. The reason the Home Office gave for rejecting renewals was that they claimed that none of the job descriptions for senior carers presented to them required skills and qualifications at National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) Level 3 which is roughly equivalent to a university degree. They also said that in line with this required skills level, the overseas senior care workers should be paid at least £7.02 per hour and none of them were meeting this pay level.

Employers complained that for the last ten years, the Home Office had issued work permits to more than 20,000 workers but during those years the Home Office had never stipulated any requirement for NVQ Level 3 skills for the job or for a salary of £7.02 per hour for senior care workers. Kanlungan and other migrant community organisations, trade unions and employers campaigned against these rule changes. In January and March 2008, the Home Office issued transitional measures to mitigate the impact of the loss of care workers on care services to the elderly and vulnerable sections of society.

The following concessions were granted:

  1. Those senior care workers who had their work permits approved prior to 31 December 2003, and who remained with the same employer for their existing work permit, would be granted an exceptional extension for a maximum of 12 months, provided the permit holder had not left the United Kingdom. The skills criteria and the required salary of £7.02 would be waived.
  2. Those who had arrived in the UK after 31 December 2003 (and who had not left the UK), would only have the skills criteria waived. Work permit renewals with the same employer or with a new employer would still require that the employer pay them £7.02 per hour.
  3. In March 2008, the government gave further concessions for those who had lost their jobs, their work permits and their leave to remain due to the rule changes. They issued guidelines allowing them to apply for a new work permit, with employers paying £7.02 per hour, as long as the application was made within six months of the date they lost their right to remain in the UK.