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Prison officers currently in the UK will be temporarily exempted new visa rulesA measure taken to avoid potential staffing crisis Within the country’s correctional facilities.
This decision has come recently changes in immigration rules Which increased the salary range for skilled workers.
The government move comes following the intervention of Justice Secretary David Lammy, who argued that the strict standards would adversely affect staff-dependent prisons in Nigeria and Ghana. As reported many times,
Earlier this year, Chief Inspector of Prisons Charlie Taylor warned that many prisons relied too heavily on officers recruited from West Africa, and that revised salary requirements put many at risk of not having their visas renewed.
He said if a solution was not found it would have a “devastating impact” on many prisons.
Changes introduced in July raised the salary threshold for skilled worker visas from £38,700 to £41,700 to curb net migration.
The exemption for prison officers in the UK will remain in place until the end of 2026, after which a lower salary threshold of £33,400 will remain in place until the end of 2027.
A government spokesperson said: “Net migration has already fallen by more than two-thirds under this government. We clearly believe that the numbers must fall further as we create a migration system that is controlled and fair.
“However, public safety is the first duty of any government and we must ensure that prisons continue to run safely with the right levels of experienced staff. This is vital given the prison capacity crisis we have inherited.
“For the same reason, we have introduced a specific, time-limited relaxation in visa rules for prison officers who are already in the country.”
migration Advisory Committee (MAC), which advises the government immigrationhas recommended that the salary threshold for the skilled worker route remain at £41,700.
The independent watchdog said the cost of raising the border would be between £520-710m as thousands of fewer people would contribute to the UK economy.