What do the Government's new plans for immigration mean for the Care Sector?

The recruitment of care workers from overseas is set to end under plans announced by the government.

Yvette Cooper said it is "time to end that care worker recruitment from abroad" and that rules will change this year – instead requiring companies to recruit British nationals or extend visas of overseas workers already in the UK.

The immigration white paper, published in Parliament on the 12th of May, included the change as the government takes action to bring down historically high levels of net migration.

The 82-page blueprint, titled Restoring Control over the Immigration System, outlines key policies, including:

• Reversing the long-term trend of raising international recruitment at the expense of skills and training.
• Establishing a Labour Market Evidence Group to utilise the best available data for making informed decisions about the labour market and the role of various policies, rather than relying to migration.
• Engaging sector bodies across government departments as part of this strategy.

Danny Mortimer, co-chair of the Cavendish Coalition and CEO of NHS Employers (part of the NHS Confederation), said: "Social care and health leaders will be concerned about the risk that these proposed changes to immigration rules pose to vital social care provision. International workers play a crucial role in delivering these important services across the country."

Nadra Ahmed, the chair of the National Care Association, said: "The reality is that we can't recruit local people to undertake this critical role, so we have had to choose the more costly route of using the foreign visa scheme, which was put in place to tackle the workforce crisis we faced in the sector post Brexit and Covid." "Without [the visa scheme] we will have to limit what we can deliver, and in some cases that will mean the services are not viable." "They will have no options but to close and this will impact of those we support."

A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care said: "This government will reduce reliance on international workers in adult social care and boost the recruitment and retention of homegrown talent. We recognise the scale of reform needed to make adult social care attractive as a career. That is why we are introducing a new Fair Pay Agreement and implementing the first universal career structure, giving care workers better pay, conditions, and new opportunities."

Mario Kreft MBE, the chair of CFW, said: "It really is a half-baked, ill-thought through idea that’s ignored commonsense for the sake of short-term political expediency. If you lose 10 per cent of your workforce it’s going to cause major issue because you need so many people. This will inevitably lead to care homes closing and domiciliary care companies going to the wall. If you have problems in terms of quality because you haven’t enough staff, you’ll get closed down anyway by the regulator. At the very least, domiciliary care and care homes will have to reduce services which will cause a backlog into the NHS."

The Care Workers' Charity has expressed serious concerns, emphasising that migrant care workers are not a temporary fix, but a vital part of the adult social care workforce. The charity highlights the existing crisis of vacancies in the social care sector, with over 130,000 reported vacancies in 2024.

International workers who are already sponsored to work legally in the sector will be able to continue to extend their stay, change sponsors and apply to settle, including those who need to switch employers following a sponsor licence revocation.

The government says that it is committed to tackling these issues and has committed to establishing fair pay agreements which will empower worker, employer and other sector representatives to negotiate improvements in the terms of employment. This builds on the announcement in January of the expansion of the Care Workforce Pathway which will support the adult social care sector to professionalise the workforce. The government says that together these measures will move the UK away from a dependence on overseas workers to fulfil our care needs.

Baroness Casey has also begun work on an independent commission into adult social care – a once in a generation opportunity to transcend party politics and build consensus on the future of the sector.

At Social Care TV, we share the concerns of many in the industry regarding the effect of this new policy on the existing workforce crisis in the sector and the risk that these proposed changes to immigration rules pose to vital social care provision.

We will, however, continue to look towards a more positive future for the sector and play our part in the retention of care workers and building a stronger workforce through care skills development.

In an ever-evolving landscape, we remain committed to delivering exceptional training that equips individuals with the knowledge, skills, and expertise required to deliver service excellence and thrive within this field.

Immigration white paper to reduce migration and strengthen border - GOV.UK

Care worker recruitment from abroad to end, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper says - BBC News

Immigration Ban Will Put Lives At Risk And Lead To Care Company Closures In Wales