New UK work guidelines favor Filipino senior carers -- DFA

By Veronica Uy
INQUIRER.net
Posted date: January 31, 2008

MANILA, Philippines -- The United Kingdom has issued new work guidelines that would ease restrictions on work permit renewal, an ambassador said.

In his report to the Department of Foreign Affairs, Philippine Ambassador to the Court of St. James Edgardo Espiritu described the new guidelines as “significant concessions from the British Home Office that would facilitate the renewal of their work permits.”

Under the new guidelines issued by the UK Border and Immigration Agency (BIA) of the Home Office Department, the waiver of the skills criteria for work permit holders has been extended to include those who have transferred to new employers due to the refusal of their previous employers to pay the required minimum hourly rate of 7.02 pounds.

Previously, transfer applications had been treated as new applications subject to strict compliance with existing skills criteria making renewal of work permits extremely difficult.

“Under the old guidelines, Filipino senior care workers whose employers refuse to pay the required hourly rate simply have no choice but to depart from the UK upon completion of their contract,” Espiritu said.

The new guidelines ensure the renewal of work permits for those who are only a year away of the minimum five-year eligibility requirement for permanent settlement in the United Kingdom. The skills criteria, as well as the required 7.02-pound hourly rate for care workers who have been in the United Kingdom prior to 31 December 2003, has been waived.

“Without those changes, thousands of Filipino senior care workers would have ended up without work,” Espiritu added.

The ambassador thanked the UK government and parliament, and Filipino and British non-government organizations based in the United Kingdom for their unwavering support for migrant workers and for the promulgation of the new guidelines.

During her UK visit in December 2007, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo raised the issue concerning Filipino senior care workers with British government officials and parliamentarians, and asked their assistance in protecting the continued employment of Filipinos in their country.