Recruiting Care Home Staff From Outside The UK
Due to severe staffing problems, we are seeing more of our care home clients looking to recruit staff from outside the UK, many by using the Skilled Worker visa route.
To qualify for a Skilled Worker visa, an overseas individual must:
- work for a UK employer that has been approved by the Home Office UK as a Tier 2 Visa Sponsored Employer.
- have a ‘certificate of sponsorship’ from their employer with information about the role being offered in the UK
- do a job that’s on the list of eligible occupations
- be paid a minimum salary – how much depends on the type of work you do.
If their application is successful, their visa can last for up to 5 years before they need to extend it as long as they still meet the eligibility requirements. After 5 years, they may be able to apply to settle permanently in the UK (also known as ‘indefinite leave to remain’). This gives them the right to live, work and study in the UK for as long as they like and apply for benefits if they’re eligible.
There are many issues to be aware of and below are just a couple of examples.
If a non-UK domiciled individual comes to the UK to work & their employer covers their visa costs, then this does not give rise to a taxable benefit for that individual. The employer will also incur sponsor licence costs & again these do not give rise to a taxable benefit for the employee.
The situation is different where an employer meets the visa costs of an employee who is already in the UK. These costs would be subject to tax & NI for the employee & NI for the employer.
What happens if an employer purchases a property for staff to live in?
The provision of living accommodation is a benefit in kind so in many cases the employer will charge the employee a market rent to avoid this. However, this can cause problems with the National Minimum Wage (NMW).
Special rules, called the “Accommodation Offset” (AO) apply when calculating a worker’s NMW.
The AO applies when both:
The employer is regarded as responsible for the provision of accommodation to the worker &
The accommodation is suitable to be considered “living accommodation”
Point 1 will be met where the employer is the worker’s landlord, or where the employer & the worker’s landlord have an owner/director/shareholder in common.
Where the employer charges the employee for the accommodation, the charge must be taken into account by comparing it to the AO rate for the tax year. If the amount charged is higher than the AO, any excess reduces the worker’s NMW pay.
The current AO rate is £8.70 per day/£60.90 per week. For example, if an employee’s weekly rent was £75, £14.10 per week would need to be deducted from the weekly pay amount when calculating the employee’s hourly rate for the NMW.
Mitchells have been supporting the care home industry since 2005, supplying a wide range of sector specific services to operators locally and nationwide. Our team of specialist ‘care home accountants and business advisers’, proactively work with care providers to grow their business, minimise tax liabilities and increase profitability. Whether you are looking to enter this sector for the first time, or expand your existing business, Mitchells dedicated team of care home specialists have all the in-depth knowledge you could ever need to ensure you continue to grow and develop.