Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make it her policy to expand the list of professions eligible for the fee-free one-year visa extension during the covid-19 outbreak to include care workers; what recent discussions she has had with representatives of care workers on the exclusion of that workforce from that list; what estimate she has made of the number of care workers so affected; and if she will make a statement.

The Government recognises the vital contribution overseas NHS, health and social care workers have and continue to make in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.

The introduction of the Health and Care visa last August made it quicker and cheaper for regulated health and care professionals – including Senior Care Workers - and their dependents to secure their visa.

Since the start of the pandemic, the Government has extended the visas of over 10,000 key, frontline regulated health and care professionals, and their eligible family members.

The Department of Health and Social Care regularly meet with the Health and Social Care sector and we will keep the free extension offer under review.