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Foreign prison officers 'offered emergency extension to visa' to stop the prison system collapsing
The UK government granted a one-year visa exemption to prevent deportation of 2,500 foreign prison officers amid a staffing crisis caused by increased salary thresholds.
- The government offered emergency one-year visa extensions to hundreds of foreign prison staff to stop the UK prison service collapsing, exempting them for 12 months.
- Raising the skilled-worker visa threshold to £41,700 in July put around 2,500 front-facing prison officers at risk of deportation.
- Public-Sector prisons had been hiring foreign workers because shortages left British applications thin, especially in recruitment outside London, with staff from West Africa making up most hires after British nationals.
- The temporary exemption also covers dependents already in the UK and will offer temporary relief, while Chief Inspector of Prisons Charlie Taylor warned of a `devastating effect` if no solution was found.
- Following lobbying by Lord Timpson and talks involving the Home Secretary and Shabana Mahmood, ministers agreed a temporary extension for some staff despite the Home Office saying net migration has fallen by over two-thirds.
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Labour exempts African prison officers from deportation to enable them to stay in Britain and help prevent staff shortages
Labour has permitted hundreds of west African prison officers already in Britain to be temporarily spared from new visa rules.Prisons across Britain have increasingly recruited officers from west Africa, including Nigeria and Ghana.But changes to visa rules introduced earlier this year raised the salary threshold for skilled workers, sparking concerns over a possible staffing crisis if they were all to leave.The new rules, introduced in July, ra…
·London, United Kingdom
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The IndependentReposted by 
The Independent (US)
The Independent (US)Foreign prison officers get visa exemption to prevent UK jail chaos
The Chief Inspector of Prisons earlier warned of a ‘devastating effect’ if a solution was not found
·London, United Kingdom
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Coverage Details
Total News Sources13
Leaning Left3Leaning Right2Center3Last UpdatedBias Distribution38% Left, 37% Center
Bias Distribution
- 38% of the sources lean Left, 37% of the sources are Center
38% Left
L 38%
C 37%
R 25%
Factuality
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