Freedom of Information Team
Department of Health and Social Care
39 Victoria Street
London SW1H 0EU
www.gov.uk/dhsc
Mr Andrei Savitski
By email to
: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
7 March 2025
Dear Mr Savitski,
Freedom of Information Request Reference FOI-1573721
Thank you for your request dated 11 February to the Department of Health and Social
Care (DHSC), a copy of which can be found in the accompanying annex.
Your request has been handled under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).
DHSC holds some of the information you have requested.
In 2024/25, £16 million was provided to 15 regional and sub-regional partnerships for the
delivery of the International Recruitment Fund to prevent and respond to exploitative
employment practices of internationally recruited care staff.
In response to your request for data relating to the fund, specifically regarding the number
of care workers who have contacted their regional partnership in order to access support
services and the number of care workers who have been successfully rematched with a
new visa sponsor, information is provided in the table below, broken down by regional
partnership. The information held is subject to the statement below, which highlights some
key considerations that may impact the data. Any conclusions drawn from this data should
be made with caution.
Statement on the data held by DHSC:
• We do not hold data on the exact number of international care workers
rematched with a new visa sponsor. However, we do hold self-reported data
from regional partnerships on international care workers supported into new
employment, based on the assumption that each worker has been granted a
new visa. It has not been independently verified by DHSC or UK Visas and
Immigration (UKVI).
• These figures do not provide a complete picture of the number of workers
matched into new employment. Initially, the workers were under no obligation to
report their employment outcomes back to their region.
• The data on the number of care workers who have contacted their regional
partnership does not necessarily represent unique workers as some may have
contacted the incorrect regional partnership initially and been redirected to the
region in which they live.
• The data on international care workers supported into new employment does not
include workers who may have found work themselves after initially contacting
their regional partnership.
• The data covers the period from 1 July 2024 to 31 January 2025.
• The five London sub-regional partnerships collate their data and report as one
region.
• Regional partnership mailboxes and support offers became operational at
different points in time between July and November 2024.
Regional Partnership
Self-reported data by the
Self-reported data by the
regional partnerships on the
regional partnerships on the
number of international care
number of international care
workers who have contacted workers supported into new
the regional partnership for
employment
support
London
1190
71
South-East England
1115
16
South-West England
296
19
East Midlands
1098
83
West Midlands
827
67
Yorkshire & Humber
620
82
Greater Manchester
618
41
Cheshire & Mersey
144
7
Lancashire,
81
0
Westmorland &
Furness
North- East England
141
14
East of England
918
21
If you are not satisfied with the handling of your request, you can request we undertake an
internal review. If doing so, it would be helpful for you to be explicit which areas of the
Freedom of Information response you consider dissatisfactory. Complaints to us should be
sent to
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx or to the address at the top of this letter and be
submitted within 40 working days of the date of this letter.
Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future communication.
If you are not content with the outcome of your internal review, you may complain directly
to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). Generally, the ICO cannot make a
decision unless you have already complained to us about our original response and
received our response to your complaint and, if applicable, our internal review decision.
You should raise your concerns with the ICO within six weeks of your last substantive
contact with us.
Guidance on contacting the ICO can be found a
t https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us and
information about making a complaint can be found a
t https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint. Yours sincerely,
Freedom of Information Team
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx
Annex
From: Andrei Savitski <xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx>
Sent: 11 February 2025 14:16
To: FreedomofInformation <xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx>
Subject: Freedom of Information request - Number of care workers who accessed support
via International Recruitment Fund
Dear Department of Health and Social Care,
Care workers on the Health and Care Worker visa, whose sponsor had their licence
revoked, have been receiving emails from the Home Office, signposting them to their
Regional Partnership for support with finding a new visa sponsor. The work of the 16
Regional Partnerships is financed by the International Recruitment Fund (£15 million in
2024/2025).
For each Regional Partnership, could you please provide the total number of care workers
(in the circumstances described above) who had:
1) Contacted their Regional Partnership in order to access the support services
2) Been successfully rematched with a new visa sponsor
If a breakdown is unavailable by Regional Partnership, please provide aggregate figures.
Yours faithfully,
Andrei Savitski
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