Social care workers can now access the Home Office bereavement scheme

26 May 2020

The Home Office has extended its bereavement scheme, which previously applied only to clinical staff, to cover all NHS and social care workers. The extension of the scheme means that the families and dependants of any social care workers who lose their lives to coronavirus will now be offered indefinite leave to remain in the UK.

Many employers in the social care sector are not visa sponsors, and the majority of migrant workers in the sector do not need to inform the Home Office of where they work as their visas give them a generic right to work. However, family members of social care workers or NHS staff who find themselves bereaved due to coronavirus can contact the UKVI NHS team directly at: UKVINHSTeam@homeoffice.gov.uk.

Coronavirus