Shares in Southern Cross Healthcare, which runs 750 care homes all over the UK, sank 60% yesterday as it revealed it may not be able to pay off its debts.
Its losses doubled to £47.4million in the year to September 2010.
The Darlington-based group blames a fall in local authority funding and higher rents and is appealing for help from the Government.
GMB union boss Paul Kenny said: “These 750 care homes aren’t failing factories. They are an essential part of every community.” Source: Daily Mirror.
Despite the dramatic headlines, we will not see a mass eviction of elderly residents being thrown onto the streets.
A group as large as Southern Cross are more likely to be subject to a takeover or restructure, which could result in job losses as the new owners look to slash costs in order to balance the books and get a return on their investment.
The many hundreds Senior Care Workers, from countries such as The Philippines and India, employed by Southern Cross on Work Permits will now face new worries about their future status in the UK.
Should they be made redundant the care workers may find it extremely difficult to find an alternative Tier 2 sponsor willing to renew their visas.
The UK government imposed an interim limit on migration last year, stripping hundreds of care home sponsors of the CoS (Certificate of Employment) allocations.
New recommendations to raise UK shortage occupation list to higher skills level and remove jobs such as Senior Care Worker announced by UK Border Agency 3 March 2011.
The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) recommended that 8 job titles be removed from the UK shortage occupation list, which in effect means it will not be possible for migrant workers to obtain Tier 2 working visa for those jobs.
Last month the UK Border Agency announced a major shake-up of the Tier 2 shortage occupations list, 71 jobs being disqualified as the government sets to raise the qualification entry level to NQF 4.
On Monday the UK government confirmed that it will remove 8 occupations, including Senior Carers from the points-based system’s shortage occupation list in April. .