The Scottish Government on 18 February unveiled the £500,000 Adult Social Care Displaced Workers Scheme, designed to stop overseas carers from falling into irregular immigration status when their original sponsor loses its licence or closes. The initiative will match migrant workers—many recruited under the Health and Care Visa—with new care providers, potentially delivering an additional 30,000 hours of front-line care each month.
Trade union Unison has long warned that tying visas to a single employer leaves carers vulnerable to exploitation and abrupt dismissal. Under current UK rules a health-care worker who loses sponsorship has just 60 days to find another licenced sponsor or leave the country, a window many find unworkable given Disclosure Scotland checks and onboarding delays.
![Scotland funds scheme to re-employ migrant care staff who lose sponsorship]()
For carers and employers who need help navigating these tight timelines, VisaHQ offers an online platform and expert advisers who can fast-track the switching or renewal of Health and Care visas while ensuring full compliance with Home Office regulations. Its document-checking tools, real-time status updates and clear fee structures—accessible at https://www.visahq.com/united-kingdom/—can shave days off the process and reduce the administrative burden on both workers and care providers.
Ministers say the pilot will create a central pool of cleared, experienced carers that local authorities can access quickly, easing chronic staffing shortages while protecting workers’ right to remain. Employers who join the scheme will have recruitment fees waived and receive help with compliance paperwork.
If successful, Holyrood officials plan to lobby Westminster for a UK-wide policy that allows health and social-care visa holders to switch employers more easily—an idea welcomed by expat-management specialists who struggle with abrupt assignment terminations. For now, businesses placing staff in Scotland’s care sector should monitor licence health closely and alert workers to the new back-stop option.
Trade union Unison has long warned that tying visas to a single employer leaves carers vulnerable to exploitation and abrupt dismissal. Under current UK rules a health-care worker who loses sponsorship has just 60 days to find another licenced sponsor or leave the country, a window many find unworkable given Disclosure Scotland checks and onboarding delays.
For carers and employers who need help navigating these tight timelines, VisaHQ offers an online platform and expert advisers who can fast-track the switching or renewal of Health and Care visas while ensuring full compliance with Home Office regulations. Its document-checking tools, real-time status updates and clear fee structures—accessible at https://www.visahq.com/united-kingdom/—can shave days off the process and reduce the administrative burden on both workers and care providers.
Ministers say the pilot will create a central pool of cleared, experienced carers that local authorities can access quickly, easing chronic staffing shortages while protecting workers’ right to remain. Employers who join the scheme will have recruitment fees waived and receive help with compliance paperwork.
If successful, Holyrood officials plan to lobby Westminster for a UK-wide policy that allows health and social-care visa holders to switch employers more easily—an idea welcomed by expat-management specialists who struggle with abrupt assignment terminations. For now, businesses placing staff in Scotland’s care sector should monitor licence health closely and alert workers to the new back-stop option.
