Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has considered allowing people with Health and Care Worker visas to change employers within the care sector without requiring a new sponsorship certificate.

The Home Office is exploring ways of making changing employers easier. However, a Certificate of Sponsorship is the means by which an employer confirms they have a job for a worker which satisfies the requirements of the Immigration Rules and by which that sponsor confirms they are taking responsibility for them.

The Home Office has made no assessment of the of the potential impact of visa sponsorship restrictions on (a) staff availability and (b) continuity of care in the social care sector. That is a matter for the Department of Health and Social Care.