Fear for Care Home Staff Shortage

British Broadcasting Corporation

February 14, 2008

United Kingdom

Wales could see a shortage of care home staff if Filipino workers are deported under new laws, an MP has warned.

Home Office regulations, aimed at better qualifications and pay, say staff must earn an hourly wage of at least £7.02 to gain work permits.

But care homes say they cannot afford to pay that much - so families could have to leave Wales and return to the Philippines.

Stephen Crabb, MP for Preseli Pembrokeshire, is calling for action.

He said in his constituency there were around 150 Filipino people who had come to the UK legally, many of whom worked in the care sector.

Across the UK, there are up to 10,000 care workers from the Philippines.

He said they were brought to Britain to fill a labour shortage and there was "alarm and concern" throughout the care sector in west Wales that a core part of their workforce would be forced to leave.

"In recent years many care homes have come to rely on Filipino labour for the backbone and the core of their workforce," said the Conservative MP.

"And now with this new uncertainty about the future of these employees, a lot of managers of care homes have told me that they're very concerned about where they're going to find new staff."

He was due to meet with his constituent, Flora Domagas, a senior care worker and qualified midwife, who came to Wales in 2003 on a two year work permit.

After her initial permit was extended, her husband and their three children followed her and they settled in Haverfordwest.

Donations

The couple have since had another child and say they integrated into the local community.

Mrs Domagas worked at a private nursing home for around £5.60 an hour but has been out of a job since her work permit extension was refused in May last year.

Mrs Domagas, who is appealing the decision and training for an NVQ3 qualification, said her family have been devastated by the thought of deportation.

"The children especially, they were very upset when they heard my situation."

The family is now being helped by donations from local people.

They say they - and many like them - have nothing left to go home to in the Philippines.

Manning Lagrosas, who runs a support group for the local Filipino community, said: "In the course of coming over, being interviewed there, being hired from the Philippines, they were being asked to shell out £5,000 just to pay the agency fee.

"They sell houses and they sell properties just to pay this agency fee, just to get the job here. They have nowhere to go."

The Home Office announced last year that it had brought in the new regulations, which prioritise EU residents.

They stipulated workers should be better qualified and paid more.

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