201. The Migration Advisory Committee reviewed the occupations of care assistants and
home carers for its April 2009 UK shortage occupation list, on the request of the
Government. It concluded:
We believe that more could be done to attract workers from within the UK and the
wider EEA. We accept, however, that much of the problem is down to low pay, and
employers are often unable to pay more because of constraints imposed by local
authority funding…In the short term we accept that it would be sensible to fill some
of this shortage using non-EEA immigrant labour.246
The MAC therefore retained the occupation of Senior Care Worker on its April 2009 UK
shortage occupation list, but reduced the salary requirement to £7.80 per hour, and the
qualification requirement to ‘a relevant NQF [National Qualification Framework] level 2+
or equivalent qualification’, plus at least two years’ relevant experience, plus supervisory
responsibility in the role to which they are being recruited.247 With respect to these new
criteria, it noted that:
One-fifth of workers in the occupation [senior care worker] in the Labour Force
Survey earn £7.80 per hour, have an NQF level 2+ qualification and have two years’
or more experience.

The evidence we received suggests to us that there is a sustained and chronic
shortage of care workers within the UK and EEA. This conclusion is supported by
JobCentre Plus data showing that the vacancy-to-unemployment ratio for the period
February 2008 to January 2009 stands at 1.88, compared with 0.38 for all occupations,
and the conclusions of the Migration Advisory Committee. It is also clear that much of
the sector has long depended on certain immigrant communities—such as the Filipino
community—to fill many of these posts

cannot afford to pay £7.80 hr yet they charge £460+ a week in residential homes near me


and for nurses ,,

The Migration Advisory Committee came to a similar conclusion in its April 2009 UK
shortage occupation list, stating that “overall, recruitment to the nursing profession
remains buoyant and vacancy rates have decreased significantly since 2003. There is not
strong evidence to support nurses going on the shortage list for the UK”.252 It therefore
included only two nursing specialties—theatre nurse and critical care nurse—on the list.253


so only theatre and critical care nurses made the shortage list.

http://www.publications.parliament.u...f/217/217i.pdf