The Adult Social Care Displaced Worker Scheme offers targeted funding to adult social care employers based in Scotland to recruit displaced adult social care workers who are already in the UK. The Scheme was first opened December 2025 to March 2026 and supported 37 employers in the recruitment of 120 displaced workers, leading to almost 20,000 additional hours of care being each month.
Following its success, commitment has been made to expand the scheme within the first 100 days of this Government and we are please to announce the scheme will reopen to applications on 31st July, supported by a ministerial launch the following week.
Both employers who’ve accessed the scheme before and first time applicants are invited to apply from 31st July.
Minimum requirements to apply for this funding are that employers must:
Hold a Sponsorship license
- Registered with the Care Inspectorate and meeting grading requirement
- Have an unfilled, legitimate vacancy that is suitable for displaced workers on a Health and Social Care Visa
Eligible employers can apply for funding to support the employment of up to 3 displaced workers in the first instance.
From 31st July, please visit Adult Social Care Displaced Worker Scheme – gov.scot for information on how to apply.
Most scheme policies remain the same from the first round of funding, however we’ve listened to feedback and can confirm the following amendments;
- Once grant offers are made, the claim period will increase from 28 days to 3 months. This gives employers additional time to find suitable applicants, complete pre employment processes and apply for Certificate of Sponsorship.
- Relocation funding will be available to remote and rural locations only and will be raised to a £1000 cap per worker. You can check postcode rural/urban classification here;Scottish Statistics Postcode Lookup 2026/1 – National Records of Scotland (NRS)
- Grant offers will focus on funding to support displaced workers already living and working in Scotland. Funding to support relocate workers from England will only be considered if employers specific skills needs cannot be met by the pool of Displaced workers already in Scotland.
- Scottish Government will work with the Home Office to alert them of employers who are partaking in the scheme to assist with CoS allocation turnaround.
