The UK government has confirmed plans to end international recruitment for care workers as part of its broader efforts to reduce net migration. The change, to be outlined in the forthcoming Immigration White Paper, was announced by Home Secretary Yvette Cooper and is scheduled to be published in Parliament on Monday 12 May.
The decision follows ongoing concerns about the treatment of migrant care workers. While many have played a vital role in supporting the UK’s social care system, reports of abuse, debt exploitation and false job offers have raised serious issues. The Home Office revealed in March that over 470 care providers have had their sponsorship licences suspended since 2022.
Under the proposed changes, care workers will no longer be recruited from overseas. However, international workers who are already legally employed in the sector under sponsorship arrangements will be allowed to remain. They will also be able to extend their stay, change sponsors and apply for settlement in the UK, including where employers have lost their sponsor status.
The move is expected to be presented as part of a broader strategy to reform migration and labour supply across the care sector. The government says it will focus on retraining and integrating domestic workers into the care workforce while enabling displaced workers to take up previously promised roles.
Concerns from Unions and Sector Leaders Over Workforce Impact
The GMB Union has raised objections to the proposed withdrawal of the care visa route, warning of severe implications for the care sector. During a meeting with the Department for Health and Social Care, the union described the plans as potentially “catastrophic” for an industry already struggling with high vacancy rates.
GMB National Officer Will Dalton said, “Scrapping this visa will be deeply damaging – potentially catastrophic for our beleaguered care system. The whole sector is utterly reliant on migrant workers – yet we still have more than 130,000 vacancies across the country.”
Dalton added that care work remains difficult, often hazardous and underpaid. He confirmed that the union is working with the government on the development of Fair Pay Agreements to improve compensation and conditions within the sector, but warned these agreements will not be in place quickly enough to address the immediate gap the visa policy will create.
The new White Paper is expected to include plans to tighten overall legal migration rules, including the removal of the Social Care Visa route and increased salary thresholds for foreign workers across key sectors.
