The British government continues to plug the holes caused by Brexit. In the absence of an overall strategy, it resorts to interventions in dribs and drabs to solve the most urgent problems. The latest measure, introduced quietly on Christmas Eve, allows the entry of thousands of European workers to reduce staff shortages in two crucial sectors: agriculture and health.
Businesses and trade unions have complained for months that the lack of European labor at all levels has created problems in Britain, in many cases forcing farms to let fruit rot in the fields because there was no one to pick it. In nursing homes and hospitals, staff shortages forced the few present to take continuous punitive and overtime shifts.
Is it Brexit or Covid?
The government’s promise that post-Brexit British workers would replace Europeans did not materialize. By implicitly acknowledging that the situation is not sustainable, the Ministry of the Interior announced two exceptions to the rule of not giving permits to unskilled foreign workers.
From the beginning of the new year, hospitals and nursing homes will be able to hire foreign staff thanks to a special visa that will last at least one year. Interior Minister Priti Patel, an anti-immigration “hawk”, however, attributed the measure to the impact of Covid-19 and not to Brexit. “The changes we have introduced to health and assistance visas will alleviate the unprecedented problems caused by the pandemic,” he said.
The latest figures reveal that 42,000 social workers left their jobs between April and October, exacerbating existing staff shortages due to difficult working conditions and very low wages. The introduction of the vaccine requirement in November was an additional deterrent for many, according to experts.