The UK will halt all overseas recruitment of care workers as part of sweeping visa reforms to cut net migration, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced recently.
The changes, to be unveiled Monday, aim to reduce lower-skilled immigration by up to 50,000 annually by requiring firms to hire British workers or retain existing overseas staff.
Cooper said the government would not set “arbitrary targets” but pledged “a substantial reduction” from last year’s net migration of 728,000. The move follows record-high immigration of 906,000 in June 2023.
Sector Warns of “Worsening Crisis
Care leaders reacted with alarm, citing 165,000 vacancies in England alone. Nadra Ahmed of the National Care Association said providers “always prefer domestic workers” but lack applicants, predicting the rules would create a “challenging scenario worse than we’ve ever seen.”
The government will offset the ban by:
– Tapping a pool of 10,000 overseas carers already in the UK but unemployed
– Introducing “fair pay agreements” to boost sector attractiveness
Political Divide
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp (Conservative) backed the care worker ban but demanded tougher action, pledging to push for a legally binding annual migration cap this week.
Liberal Democrat Helen Morgan criticised “tinkering around the edges” without addressing low care wages.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage claimed the policy shift reflected his party’s polling surge, calling Labour’s plan “doomed to fail” without assimilation measures.
Student Visa Crackdown
Cooper also announced stricter university compliance rules after some institutions allegedly recruited students who later overstayed their visas. Post-study work rights remain intact.
The reforms extend existing Tory measures that saw care worker visa applications plummet from 18,300 (August 2023) to 1,700 (April 2024) after dependent bans were imposed.
