Migrant care workers face pay discrimination, service user
hostility and a lack of government recognition, despite the
sector's increasing dependence on them.
Study findings out last week found the proportion of
foreign-born care staff working with older people in the UK had
more than doubled to 19% in the past 10 years. Some 12% of staff
have entered the country since 1998.
Migrant employment driven by low pay
The influx has been driven by employers' inability to attract
UK-born workers at current pay.
Most migrants were recruited after entering the UK - including
as students, working holidaymakers or refugees - rather than on
work permits, which are now only open to senior care workers who
earn more than £7.80 an hour.
Although employers valued the contribution that migrants made,
the
report, by Oxford University's Centre on
Migration, Policy and Society, found evidence of
discrimination, including pay below the minimum wage. The study
called for this to be investigated.
Some racial abuse
Some 41% of employers said migrants were sometimes poorly
received by clients, while some complained of racial abuse.
The report said managers often received no training on how to
handle these situations, and that older people directly employing
carers needed guidance on their responsibility not to
discriminate.
The report said the role of migrants was not being properly
planned by government with a lack of co-ordination in immigration
and social care policies.
Training ban 'counter-productive'
This was evidenced by a "counter-productive" ban on non-European
Union migrants accessing publicly-funded NVQ training in their
first three years.
Given demographic pressures, the report said the number of
migrants in the sector would have to rise unless the government
significantly increased funding and pay to attract UK-born staff.
It said the government may have to consider letting employers
recruit directly from outside Europe.
Mandy Thorn, vice-chair of the National Care Association,
praised the report and admitted there had been discrimination by
employers. But she warned that "there's not going to be a magic pot
of money" for social care, nor was there a "political will" for a
more positive approach to migrants.