The End of an Era: UK Care Worker Recruitment from Abroad Faces Major Overhaul
In a decisive move, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has announced that the UK will no longer recruit care workers from abroad. This policy shift is part of a broader crackdown on visas for lower-skilled workers, aimed at reducing the record levels of net migration, which soared to 906,000 as of June 2023. The forthcoming changes, set to be revealed in the upcoming immigration White Paper, will compel employers to focus on hiring British nationals or extending the visas of current overseas workers instead.
Cooper highlighted the government’s intent to implement substantial reductions in net migration, although she avoided setting specific targets, claiming they could undermine credibility. The threshold for skilled visas will likely be raised to graduate level, moving away from the current A-level standard, while a narrower list of exemptions for temporary shortage visas will be introduced, impacting various industries. Cooper projected these visa reforms could reduce the influx of lower-skilled workers by up to 50,000 over the next year.
In addition, new training commitments will be instituted to integrate non-working individuals from the domestic labor pool. Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp, who supports the end to care worker recruitment from abroad, has called for a yearly migration cap that would enforce even stricter limits than those proposed by the Labour government.
Cooper also mentioned potential adjustments to policies affecting international students, ensuring they can still enter, stay, and work in the UK after graduation, while tightening standards and compliance for educational institutions.
The agenda for recruiting care workers has changed significantly amidst a backdrop of previous policies that saw applications for Health and Care Worker visas plummet from 18,300 in August 2023 to just 1,700 by April 2024. Under the new rules, care firms must prioritize domestic recruitment or tap into a pool of 10,000 care workers brought to the UK under a previous visa framework.
National Care Association’s executive chairman, Nadra Ahmed, warned that the changes could create a challenging scenario for care homes, which already struggle to find domestic workers. Critics, including Liberal Democrats’ Helen Morgan, argue that the government is merely tinkering with solutions and failing to address the ongoing crisis in social care, which demands improved pay and career progression measures for care workers.
As political dynamics shift—especially following changes ushered in by Reform UK in local elections—Cooper’s reforms may also be seen as a reaction to rising sentiments around migration policies. Overall, the government’s reformations promise to realign Britain’s approach to immigration and the labor market, particularly in the social care sector.