UK relaxes rules on RP senior care workers
Filipino senior care workers in the United Kingdom who are facing deportation have won “significant concessions" from the British Home Office that would facilitate the renewal of their work permits, Ambassador Edgardo Espiritu reported to the Department of Foreign Affairs.
Many Filipinos who worked in nursing homes and healthcare facilities in UK had already been sent home after they failed to secure renewal of their expired work visas following a Home Office policy that gives hiring priority to job seekers from European Union member-countries.
The stringent policy was somehow relaxed late last year when the Home Office allowed renewal of expiring contracts but raised the hourly rate of the senior carers to 7.02 pounds, resulting in the displacement of many whose employers could not afford the higher wage.
The new guidelines ensured the renewal of work permits for those who are only a year away of the minimum five-year eligibility requirement for permanent settlement in UK.
The skills criteria and the required 7.02-pound hourly rate for care workers who have been in the United Kingdom prior to December 31, 2003, has been waived, Espiritu said.
“Without those changes, thousands of Filipino senior care workers would have ended up without work," Espiritu noted.
Many of the senior care workers from the Philippines have already taken their family to settle with them in UK because of the promise under the old guidelines that would make them eligible to permanent resident status after five years.
Under the new guidelines issued by the UK Border and Immigration Agency (BIA) of the Home Office Department, Espiritu said the waiver of the skills criteria for work permit holders has also been extended to those who have changed their employers due to the refusal of their previous employers to pay the required minimum hourly rate of 7.02-pound wage.
Previously, transfer applications had been treated as new applications subject to strict compliance with existing skills criteria making renewal of work permits extremely difficult.
“Under the old guidelines, Filipino senior care workers whose employers refuse to pay the required hourly rate simply have no choice but to depart from the UK upon completion of their contract," Espiritu explained.
He said the Philippine government has extended its appreciation to the UK government and its parliament, and to UK-based-Filipino and British NGO’s for their unwavering support for migrant workers and for the promulgation of the new guidelines. - GMANews.TV
Many Filipinos who worked in nursing homes and healthcare facilities in UK had already been sent home after they failed to secure renewal of their expired work visas following a Home Office policy that gives hiring priority to job seekers from European Union member-countries.
The stringent policy was somehow relaxed late last year when the Home Office allowed renewal of expiring contracts but raised the hourly rate of the senior carers to 7.02 pounds, resulting in the displacement of many whose employers could not afford the higher wage.
The new guidelines ensured the renewal of work permits for those who are only a year away of the minimum five-year eligibility requirement for permanent settlement in UK.
The skills criteria and the required 7.02-pound hourly rate for care workers who have been in the United Kingdom prior to December 31, 2003, has been waived, Espiritu said.
“Without those changes, thousands of Filipino senior care workers would have ended up without work," Espiritu noted.
Many of the senior care workers from the Philippines have already taken their family to settle with them in UK because of the promise under the old guidelines that would make them eligible to permanent resident status after five years.
Under the new guidelines issued by the UK Border and Immigration Agency (BIA) of the Home Office Department, Espiritu said the waiver of the skills criteria for work permit holders has also been extended to those who have changed their employers due to the refusal of their previous employers to pay the required minimum hourly rate of 7.02-pound wage.
Previously, transfer applications had been treated as new applications subject to strict compliance with existing skills criteria making renewal of work permits extremely difficult.
“Under the old guidelines, Filipino senior care workers whose employers refuse to pay the required hourly rate simply have no choice but to depart from the UK upon completion of their contract," Espiritu explained.
He said the Philippine government has extended its appreciation to the UK government and its parliament, and to UK-based-Filipino and British NGO’s for their unwavering support for migrant workers and for the promulgation of the new guidelines. - GMANews.TV
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