Care sector need not be in crisis.

The number of non-British EU nationals working in the UK’s social care system has shot up by more than 40% in three years, according to official figures.

Some argue that Leaving the EU will lead to a catastrophic staffing crisis across the sector.

The data released in answer to a parliamentary question by the Liberal Democrat MP Tom Brake shows the total increased from 65,000 in December 2013 to 92,000 by September last year, the most recent date for which figures are available.   The proportion of the social care workforce from other European countries varies by region, from 2% in the north-east to 12% in London, showing how a system already suffering recruitment problems is hugely reliant on EU workers in large parts of the country. In all, European workers make up 7% of a social care workforce of 1.34 million.  And they’re all low paid, mostly on the minimum wage.

Let’s step back for a moment.  We have unemployment in the UK.  Why are people in the UK not doing these jobs?  Why can we not train those who are unemployed to fill these 93,800 vacancies? 

Too low paid I hear you say.  Well, I would agree with you.  But money has to come from somewhere.  And it should not come from increased taxation.  All that does is reduce the amount of money people can spend on goods and services.  Cut that and you create unemployment in the very productive sector we need to stimulate.  Indeed, the very sector that pays for Doctors, Nurses, Care workers, Policemen, Firefighters, roads and hospitals.

I say we totally change how we do taxation.  Have very simple tax banding.  And end this crazy situation where we have people and businesses interacting with the tax system on multiple levels. 

Like a person who is in employment on a low wage gets benefits from the tax payer at the same time a business has to pay many different levels of tax.  Put it simply we should tax the business less and raise the minimum wage by an equivalent amount.  Then you don’t have a bureaucracy collecting and paying out tax. 

It is fiscally neutral for both the employee and the employer.  But you will have saved millions on bureaucracy.   Yes, I know it will take a bit of working out to do. But we need to be radical as we are living in an unsustainable bubble.

Back to care workers.  Let’s train our own from our own unemployed.  Let’s pay them properly.  And let’s stop saying all will be gloom and doom when we leave the EU.  It won’t.