The Government has published guidance on its £12.5m international recruitment fund for the adult social care sector which aims to ensure individuals work for legitimate care providers while tackling exploitation.

The moneypot comes as the Government reports ‘unacceptable increases’ in unethical practices and exploitation in the adult social care sector.

The money will be made available in 2025/2026 to support migrant care workers impacted by sponsor non-compliance or unethical practice and will address poor employment practices.

Over the 2024/2025 financial year, 15 regional and sub-regional partnerships across England have established the infrastructure and processes to support migrant care workers into new, ethical employment with new sponsors.

This includes ‘single point of contact’ mailboxes in 15 regions covering the whole of England for migrant care workers to get help in facilitating job introductions with adult social care providers and for pastoral support.

They have also served to raise awareness among providers of the pool of workers impacted by non-compliant sponsors who are available to support their workforce.

According to the guidance released last week, in the next year regional partnerships will be expected to go further and ensure workers impacted by non-compliant sponsors or unethical practice can access the support they need to find new, ethical, sponsored employment as quickly as possible.

The Government also wants to ensure that regional partnerships support the work of UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) and other relevant enforcement bodies by sharing insights regarding unethical practices they are made aware of.

The guidance says the main aim of the fund is to:

• Support those impacted by non-compliant sponsors or unethical practice into new ethical, sponsored employment in the adult social care sector
• Engage with adult social care providers to encourage recruitment of migrant care workers impacted by non-compliant sponsors
• Support work to prevent and respond to exploitative employment issues

And the £12.5m investment will:

• Significantly increase the number of migrant care workers impacted by non-compliant sponsors or unethical practice accessing support and finding new, ethical, sponsored employment
• Substantially increase the number of providers engaging with regional partnerships and raise awareness of the pool of migrant care workers available to support the adult social care workforce
• Improve intelligence-sharing regarding international recruitment activity across the regional partnerships to inform and support UKVI and other relevant enforcement bodies to clamp down on unscrupulous providers
• Strengthen evidence of what works for ensuring ethical recruitment and retention of international workers to inform ongoing and future practice and policy
• Support our wider objective to ensure sufficient workforce capacity in the adult social care sector

To achieve the aims of the fund, the conditions for partnerships accessing the grant are that they should:

• Identify a lead local authority to receive the grant on behalf of the partnership, as we are using a section 31 mechanism to pay the grant
• Consist of local authorities and care alliances or other groups of local providers
• Cover a region or a sub-region and make sure that services offered through the partnership are available to adult social care providers and migrant care workers within that area
• Ensure that relevant stakeholders, such as migrant care workers and providers, are engaged in decisions regarding support services to be funded, to ensure the grant meets the funding objectives and to ensure value for money

All partnerships must adhere to the international recruitment code of practice, and comply with the Modern Slavery Act 2015, the Employment Agencies Act 1973 and the associated Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003, as well as the Subsidy Control Act 2022.

There is also guidance on how partnerships should be monitored evaluated.

Examples of how the funding can be used to meet the grant objectives include:

• Continuing to provide a single point of contact mailbox for migrant care workers, responding promptly to all queries
• Providing a person-centred employment support service and facilitating job introductions with employers. This could be provided, for example, through local authority case workers, a recruitment agency or third sector organisations. Services could include support with CV writing and interview skills
• Maintaining a register of ethical providers in the area to facilitate job introductions. This should not be limited to those with certificates of sponsorship or those that have previously used international recruitment
• Developing effective processes to work in partnership across regions and with the devolved nations to support those willing to relocate to access vacancies in other areas
• Disseminating information and guidance or signposting to relevant organisations, as appropriate, for migrant care workers to understand their employment rights and how to report unethical recruitment practices. Partnerships must not provide immigration advice. Individuals should be signposted to relevant organisations as appropriate
• Delivering communications to promote the support for migrant care workers available via the regional partnerships, and putting in place local strategies to increase the number of people contacting mailboxes for support
• Providing or signposting to pastoral support, as appropriate, to ensure migrant care workers have the support they need to continue working in the adult social care sector

The guidance states: “The Department of Health and Social Care intends to distribute the grant through a lead local authority that will act on behalf of all the local authorities in the partnership and in collaboration with local care alliances, local providers, or other groupings of local providers.

“However, the responsibility for delivery of the interventions lies collectively with the relevant parties that make up the partnership.

“The regional partnership will work collaboratively to develop a delivery plan which sets out how the partnership will deliver the aims of the fund.

“There will be no competition between partnerships for funds. For the 2025-2026 fund, funding will be made available to local authority areas using a 75:25 weighted approach. This means that 75% of funding for each region will be based on the sum of care home beds and domiciliary care users within local authority areas and 25% will be based on revocation levels per region from 2024 to 2025.

“This is to ensure that funding is allocated according to local need.

“The funding will be paid in quarterly instalments. Final funding amounts will be determined quarterly, based on level of need and to ensure maximum value for money.”