It’s a new world when it comes to bringing care workers from overseas

Earlier this month, the UK government confirmed a major change to immigration policy that will see overseas recruitment for care workers come to an end.

From tomorrow, the Home Office will refuse new entry clearance applications for care workers, senior care workers and home carers, meaning that sponsors can no longer recruit frontline carers directly from overseas.

The government asserts that this change will fulfil a manifesto commitment to reduce the level of net migration, ending the exploitation of foreign workers by a small number of rogue care providers who will now be given the opportunity to do the jobs they were promised, and support long-term plans to train home-grown talent.

Employers will have to be careful with record keeping under new rules, says Grace McGill

There will be a transition period until 2028 that allows visa extensions and in-country switching for those already in the UK with working rights. Nevertheless, this change poses a significant challenge for the care sector that historically has been heavily reliant on workers from overseas.

According to Skills for Care, a data provider commissioned by the Department of Health and Social Care, there are 1.59 million people working in the adult social care sector in England. In Scotland, the number of care workers exceeds 200,000.

With more than a quarter of care worker roles filled by individuals from overseas, and approximately eight per cent of social care roles estimated to be vacant, care sector trade bodies have warned that the reforms present potential workforce shortages and pose questions around how care will be adequately delivered in the short to medium term – particularly as demand for social care grows in line with the UK’s aging population and the increasing number of working-age adults with disabilities.

With today being the deadline to submit applications for care worker visas before the route is closed, providers that haven’t already should urgently expedite the applications of any overseas workers they are in the process of recruiting. Those who apply before 22 July will be assessed against existing rules, despite their application being reviewed after deadline.

Care workers from overseas who are already in the UK will be permitted to extend their visas. However, they are likely to now face a 10-year route to settlement rather than the five years they had anticipated. Skills and health surcharges are due to increase by the end of this year and both employers and employees should factor this into any decision on extensions.

Additionally, care sector employers will now be under intense scrutiny to ensure their record keeping duties are up to date, to adhere with renewal deadlines since existing care workers who wish to transfer employers will need to prove they were employed for a minimum of three months.

The care sector has long faced scrutiny from the Home Office. Under reforms introduced by the previous government in December 2023, health and social care workers were spared the increased salary thresholds applied to the skilled worker visa as this would have made many roles unviable. However, they were prohibited from bringing dependents – a rule which remains in place. These new reforms create further challenge for the sector and will require careful navigation by care providers to ensure compliance with sponsorship duties.

Grace McGill is a partner and head of immigration at Burness Paull LLP​