International Recruitment – Beds Care Group Ltd

Tuesday 17 December – Bulletin 20

This series of monthly bulletins through to August 2025 will advertise free resources to support international recruitment. These will keep you up to date on the latest bookable webinars, practical support offers, toolkits and guides.

The bulletin is for you if you are an international recruitcare provider who is looking to or recruits international staffcare provider association whose members include those above local authority in the East who is offering support through a dedicated mailbox.

Lots has happened since our last bulletin, we have received funding from Department for Health and Social Care to continue providing resources which now includes practical support for those international recruits impacted by their employer’s sponsor licence becoming revoked.

The next bulletin will be sent on Tuesday 14 January.

Practical Support Looking for new work placements? If you are a provider who would like to offer employment to impacted international recruits, please contact the relevant mailbox below. This applies to international recruits affected by revocation. We have six mailboxes in the East set up to offer support and guidance for international recruits living in Central Bedfordshire, Bedford Borough and Luton DISPLACEDWORKERSUPPORT@BLCB.CO.UK.

Free online driving theory module. East of England Local Government Association have developed an eLearning module to help you with your driving theory. This resource looks at what you need to drive in the UK and suggests ways to make it easier to study for and complete the driving theory test. To get started follow the instructions below.Visit the official driving theory website herethis will bring up the home screen, click on Log-in, then on ‘Create New Account’read through the privacy policy then click ‘I agree to the Privacy Policy’select Next fill out the form with your details and click on both consent boxes, this will then send an email to the email address you providedopen the email and click on the link given to confirm your registrationclick on ‘continue’ to confirm your account, this will bring up your profileto continue, you need to complete the ‘country of origin’ field. Save thisgo to home and then click on the ‘Driving theory’ buttonthis will take you to a page which says ‘Enrolment options’, click on self -enrolment which gets you to the welcome page. On the left hand side there are drop downs starting with Pre-course survey.

If you have any problems with these instructions or accessing the module, please email eon@eelga.gov.uk for support. Driving lessons The Suffolk Care Association are a delivery partner offering one driving assessment and four driving lessons per international worker. The worker must pass the UK driving test within 12 months of arrival. This offer extends across Suffolk, Norfolk, Essex, Southend, Thurrock, Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Peterborough, Bedford Borough, Central Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes. Workers must have a UK provisional licence and international driving licence.

International Recruitment UK Road Safety Adaptation lessons are fully funded. This offer is for international recruited staff that require driving for their role in social care. Find more information and apply here.

Individual Grants The Care Workers’ Charity is working in partnership with International Recruitment East to administer the award of grants to internationally recruited care workers in the Eastern region who need to secure alternative employment in a new Adult Social Care organisation due to license revocation of their most recent employer. Individual grants can be awarded to international recruits to support them in two specific areas:visa fee reimbursement – basic visa fee £284work expense grants – individual grants awarded to support with costs to the international recruit directly related to work expenses/finding new employment i.e. bike, clothing, travel costs, childcare costs etc. A maximum grant of £500 is available.

If you are employing or supporting international recruits who have been affected by license revocations, let them know that there is financial support available to help them with expenses such as travel, childcare, car purchase or internet subscription. If they are struggling with the cost of the visa update when changing sponsors, they can claim this back also.

The application process is straightforward, and there is lots of information available. You can find the application form and more information on the The Care Worker’s Charity website here or you can email the grants team at grants@thecwc.org.uk. Please note funds will be closed for applications between 13 December – 7 January for the Christmas period. Suffolk Care Association SMS webinarsThe Suffolk Care Association are offering exclusive SMS Webinars with immigration experts Sponsor Licence and Visas to give you the knowledge you need to apply for and manage a sponsor. The focus will be on migrant worker support and immigration updates including eVisas, switching sponsorship, supplementary hours and extensions.

Wednesday 8 January, book here.Suffolk Care Association solicitor support workshopsThe Suffolk Care Association have created workshops to build employer awareness on:Importance of Sponsorship Management System (SMS) compliance – overview of sponsor duties and responsibilitiesSponsorship obligations – record-keeping and documentation requirementsEffective use of Sponsorship Management System (SMS) for sponsored migrantsReporting duties, including when and how to report changes or issues related to your organisation or migrant employees Question and answer session.

The next workshops are taking place on; Wednesday 15 January, Wednesday 12 February, Wednesday 12 March, Wednesday 2 April.

Places are limited to a maximum of six providers per workshop. To secure your place, book here.

Available resources on the NCC websiteThe following were commissioned from the Department for Health and Social Care funding under phases 1 and 2 of the International Recruitment support offers. You can access toolkits, recorded webinars and guidance under the following areas: Sponsorship, licences and visa. Ethical recruitment recorded webinars and resources, modern slavery, eliminating racism in the workforce (anti-racist practice), cultural orientation and pastoral care, driving skills, accommodation, online events and resources.

These can all be accessed by visiting the website here.

Eliminating racism in the workplace Guidance for Managers and Workers has been written to help with eliminating racism at Norfolk County Council and to support workers affected by racism. The resource can be found here. Also available is an interactive 20 minute eLearning course which can be found here.

About Us…International Recruitment East is funded by the Department of Health and Social Care. We provide webinars and other resources across the eastern region to support all aspects of international recruitment. The resources on offer have been designed specifically based on sector feedback.
If you want to find out any more about the International Recruitment East programme and explore the wide range of resources already available, please visit our website.If you would be interested in providing feedback, please email us at internationalrecruitmenteast@norfolk.gov.uk. Feedback is extremely useful for us to share with the DHSC.