Health and care workers with a Health and Care Worker visa are now able to work more than 20 hours per week in supplementary employment following an amendment to government guidance.
The Health and Care Worker guidance tool on GOV.UK confirms that workers with such a visa can do additional paid work on their existing visa as long as they’re still doing the job they are being sponsored for.
This means that such workers can take on an extra job with a different employer and work as many hours as they like without updating their visa, provided the extra job is also eligible for a Health and Care Worker visa.
The changes will remain in place until 27 August 2023 (when it will be further reviewed). After this date workers will only be able to do up to 20 hours of additional paid work without updating their visa and the job will need to be either:
- in the same occupation code and at the same level as their main job
- in a shortage occupation
This will be welcome news for health and care employers given the current staffing crisis in the sector as it may potentially widen the talent pool of potential recruits.
However, main employers of such workers should still be mindful of their duty of care to monitor all working hours to ensure that workers are working safely and in accordance with the Working Time limits. This means ensuring adequate time for breaks and rest between shifts so as to safeguard workers wellbeing and not fall foul of the legislation.
Key contact
Bénédicte Viort de La Batie
Associate
Benedicte.ViortDeLaBatie@brownejacobson.com
+44 (0)330 045 2952