Changes in Health & Care Worker Visa for the United Kingdom
Before recruiting from overseas, the employers now have to find them locally first.
Ahmed Abdul Azeem
4/21/20254 min read
The care worker recruitment requirement
SK4.23. You will normally need to engage with your ‘regional care partnership’ and attempt to recruit from the ‘displaced worker pool’ before you can sponsor a care worker or senior care worker to work in England.
SK4.24. We refer to this process in this guidance as the ‘care worker recruitment requirement’. The requirement applies if all of the following are true:
• you wish to sponsor a care worker under occupation code 6135 or a senior care worker under occupation code 6136
• you assign a CoS to that worker on or after 9 April 2025
• that worker will be working in England only
• the worker is outside the UK, or is in the UK and an exception in paragraph SK4.29 does not apply
SK4.25. Where the requirement applies, you must first contact the regional care partnership in the area where you are located or are recruiting. The partnership will provide you with contact details of displaced workers known to them. You must consider whether any of these workers are suitable for the role – by, for example, interviewing them or reviewing their experience or qualifications. The action you then need to take depends on whether you identify a worker from the pool or not.
SK4.26. You are responsible for assessing these workers’ suitability – the partnership cannot make this assessment for you. You must also retain evidence of how you identified the worker you eventually recruited is suitable for the role, as described in Appendix D to the sponsor guidance.
SK4.27. ‘Regional care partnership’ means the relevant regional or sub-regional partnership set up for the purpose of delivering activity which prevents and responds to exploitative employment practices in the international recruitment of care staff. You can find contact details for your regional care partnership at the following link: Support offer to international ASC workers whose employer's sponsor licence has been revoked.
SK4.28. ‘Displaced worker pool’ means a list of workers (‘displaced workers’) maintained by the relevant regional care partnership who meet all of the following:
• are in the UK
• were last sponsored as a Skilled Worker under occupation code 6135 or 6136 (or their equivalent SOC 2010 occupation codes, 6145 or 6146 respectively)
• require new sponsorship because of one or more of the following:
o their previous sponsor has lost its licence o their current sponsor has been unable to provide sufficient work for them
o they have otherwise been identified by the regional care partnership as a worker requiring assistance in obtaining new sponsorship Exceptions to the care worker recruitment requirement
SK4.29. You do not have to meet the care worker recruitment requirement in this section if the worker is in the UK and either of the following is true:
• the worker was last granted permission as a Skilled Worker and sponsored under one of the occupation codes specified in paragraph SK4.28 above – this applies whether the worker is changing sponsor or continuing with the same sponsor
• the worker is already legally working for you as a care worker or senior care worker, and has been working for you in that role, with permission on another immigration route, for at least the 3-month period before the date of their application
SK4.30. These exceptions do not apply if the worker is outside the UK.
SK4.31. You also do not have to meet the recruitment requirement if you are not sponsoring the worker to work entirely in England.
SK4.32. If an exception applies, you should explain this when you assign a CoS to the worker. You can do this either in the job description field or by adding a sponsor note after you’ve assigned the CoS. If you do not include this information, the worker’s application may be refused. If you identify a suitable displaced worker
SK4.33. If you identify a suitable worker from the displaced worker pool and you decide to sponsor them, you can assign them an Undefined CoS so they can apply for permission to stay.
SK4.34. When you assign a CoS, you must include the following statement in either the job description field or in a sponsor note: Candidate has been recruited from the displaced worker pool.
SK4.35. If you fail to include this statement, the worker’s application for permission to stay may be refused.
SK4.36. If you need to request any additional Undefined CoS to sponsor a displaced worker, you must include this statement in your request. If you do not, your request may be rejected. If you do not identify a suitable displaced worker
SK4.37. If you do not identify a suitable worker from the displaced worker pool, and you decide to sponsor a worker from outside the pool (who is not covered by an exception in paragraph SK4.29), you must do both of the following:
• ask any regional care partnership you have engaged with to provide confirmation to UKVI that you have contacted them to obtain details of displaced workers – we will record this confirmation on a database
• include the following information when you assign or request a CoS, or apply for a Defined CoS: o the name of the regional partnership, or partnerships, you have engaged with o confirmation that you were unable to identify a suitable worker from the displaced worker pool
SK4.38. You should include this information in the job description field of the relevant CoS form, or in your request for additional Undefined CoS. We will check the information you have provided against our database. If you do not include this information, or our database does not confirm you have engaged with a regional care partnership:
• any application for a Defined CoS or request for Undefined CoS will be rejected
• an application supported by a CoS which does not meet the above requirements may be refused
SK4.39. If you are found to have given false or misleading information about your attempts to recruit from the displaced worker pool, we are likely to revoke your licence.
Copied from Workers and Temporary Workers: guidance for sponsors Sponsor a Skilled Worker Version 04/25
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