The recruitment of care workers from overseas is set to ‘end’ under plans announced by the government.
The news has been condemned by nursing and social care leaders who have described the measure as ‘pandering and scapegoating’.
Today the government has published its Immigration White Paper – detailing its plans to ‘bring down historically high levels of net migration’.
With a focus on the social care sector, the government has said it will close social care visas to new applications from abroad in a move to ‘end’ overseas recruitment of care workers.
There will be a ‘transition period’ until 2028 – while a social care workforce strategy is being developed – where the government will permit visa extensions and in-country switching for those already here. Though this will also be kept under review.
It comes as the government’s independent commission into adult social care, led by Baroness Louise Casey, got underway earlier this month. This work is due to include a plan for setting out the implementation of a national care service and wider reforms to the adult social care sector in England by 2028.
The government has claimed the Adult Social Care Visa change comes as part of a crackdown on ‘rogue’ care providers where ‘too many’ care workers have been ‘subject to shameful levels of abuse and exploitation’.
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In March, the Home Office revealed over 470 care providers had had their licence to sponsor international staff suspended since 2022, the government said.
‘We have been clear about our concerns about the Adult Social Care visa. The introduction of this visa route has led to significant concerns over abuse and exploitation of individual workers,’ the white paper said.
‘We have taken steps to address these concerns, restricting access to overseas recruitment unless employers have first tried to recruit from the in-country redeployment pool, but the evidence shows more needs to be done.
‘We will therefore end overseas recruitment for social care visas. In line with our wider reforms to skills thresholds, we will close social care visas to new applications from abroad.’
Speaking to over 3,000 nurses including hundreds of migrant nursing staff at the Royal College of Nursing’s (RCN) annual conference in Liverpool today, RCN general secretary and chief executive Professor Nicola Ranger said: ‘Many of you in this hall today started your nursing journey far away.
‘So let me say again: you are more than welcome in the UK. Thank you for bringing your skills to this country and bringing your lives here. You know, more than I ever will, the obstacles, costs and the hostility.’
She added: ‘The UK is so reliant on overseas colleagues, especially in social care. The government has no plan to grow a domestic workforce. This is about politics – pandering and scapegoating. It should be about people.
‘We need an immigration system that works for care staff, nurses and the people who rely on them.’
Professor Ranger called on the government to grant ‘indefinite leave to remain to all nursing staff without delay’ to give colleagues ‘the security, respect and stability they need’.
Vic Rayner, chief executive of the National Care Forum said: ‘The plans set out in the immigration white paper published today will do little to reassure people drawing on care and support, let alone care workers and employers, that social care is a priority for this government right now.’
She warned the government had a ‘responsibility to step up to its immigration policy decision making and realise the need for urgent workforce planning and immediate improvements to care worker pay, terms and conditions to cover the shortfall that will be caused by these proposals’.
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‘This policy is shortsighted in that it overlooks the current levels of unmet care and support need,’ said Ms Rayner.
As part of its white paper today, the government also said it recognised that vacancies in the social care workforce are ‘largely driven by historic levels of poor pay and poor terms and conditions leading to low domestic recruitment and retention rates’.
And it reconfirmed its promise on ‘tackling these issues’ and establishing a ‘fair pay agreement’ for the sector.
‘These agreements will move the UK away from a dependence on overseas workers to fulfil our care needs,’ it added.
But Ms Rayner urged the government to stop ‘relying on references to a fair pay agreement which is unlikely to come into effect for a number of years’.
Nuffield Trust deputy director of policy Natasha Curry said: ‘Nobody is served well when social care is caught in the political crossfire of the immigration debate and governments keep turning the overseas recruitment taps on and off.
‘Closing off international recruitment without properly addressing our poor domestic supply of care workers is hugely risky, but social care is rarely granted the political status it needs to be a government priority.
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‘It is absolutely right to crack down on the exploitation of overseas workers, but care providers won’t be able to boost their domestic workforce overnight.’
She added: ‘While plans for a fair pay agreement for care workers show ambitions to make the sector a more attractive workplace for UK citizens, these reforms won’t kick in for years, so there is going to be a void where social care employers will struggle even more to fill vacancies.’
Last month a report from the charity Work Rights Centre made fresh calls to ensure migrant nursing staff are protected from workplace exploitation and are able to leave ‘abusive jobs’.
While in March, the RCN warned of an eight-fold increase in concerns raised by migrant nursing staff who fear they are victims of exploitation within the social care sector.
