Understanding the New Sponsorship Rules for Care Worker Recruitment
- IT Department
- Apr 4
- 2 min read
As of April 9 2025, significant changes are coming to how international care workers are recruited from overseas in England. These new sponsorship rules are designed to prioritise the hiring of individuals already residing in the UK who require sponsorship. In this blog, we will look at exactly what this change means for the social care sector and how recruitment strategies may be impacted.
What Are the New Sponsorship Rules?
Under the revised requirements, care providers must first show they have made efforts to recruit from within the UK before turning to hire people who are outside of the country. This means that employers will need to actively try and recruit carers who have lost employment through no fault of their own, for reasons like the revocation of their former employers licence for misuse. When applying for a defined Certificate of Sponsorship to allow the hiring of a carer from abroad, the employer must show the Home Office they have tried to recruit locally first. To interview local displaced workers, UK Visas and Immigration has provided a list of regional leads to connect providers with potential carers:
Area | Contact Email Address |
Cambridgeshire | |
Central Bedfordshire | |
Cheshire and Mersey | |
East Midlands | |
Essex, Hertfordshire, Suffolk, Thurrock and Southend | |
Greater Manchester | |
Lancashire, Westmorland, and Furness | |
Milton Keynes | |
Norfolk | |
North Central London | |
North East | |
North East London | |
North West London | |
Peterborough | |
South East England | |
South East London | |
South West London | |
West Midlands | |
Yorkshire and Humber |
The motivation behind this change is to make sure care providers consider people who are available locally first, thereby supporting the domestic workforce and reducing reliance on overseas recruitment.
What this Means for Care Providers
To comply with the new rules, care providers should take the following steps:
Review your existing recruitment strategies to check they align with the new requirements. This includes recording efforts made to recruit from the local talent pool.
Actively engage with displaced international workers who are already in the UK, by contacting your regional lead listed above, they should be able to direct you to them.
Be ready to provide evidence of your effort to recruit locally if you were unsuccessful and require additional defined Certificate's of Sponsorship for international care workers. Without this evidence it will be unlikely the Home Office will grant defined Certificate's of Sponsorship in Occupation Codes 6135 and 6136.
Keep updated with any further updates or changes UKVI may introduce. This will help your organisation to remain compliant and adapt quickly to any new changes that are introduced.
Conclusion
The revised sponsorship rules which come into force on 9 April represent a significant shift in how care providers in England are able to recruit international workers. By making providers prioritise the hiring of individuals already in the country, these changes aim to enhance local employment opportunities, while addressing the pressing workforce needs of the social care sector.
Care providers must adapt their recruitment strategies accordingly to ensure compliance and make the most of the available talent pool. For more information on how to do this while while staying compliant contact info@ctcadministration.com today.
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