The Government is set to introduce legislation ending the recruitment of care workers from abroad as part of sweeping immigration reforms. New rules will be laid in Parliament on Tuesday to dramatically tighten controls on skilled worker visas and cut migration to the UK.
The reforms will increase salary and skills thresholds up to degree level for skilled workers, cutting eligibility for 111 occupations. A new time-limited temporary shortage list will remain in place until the end of 2026 for below degree-level roles where recruiting foreign workers is essential for critical infrastructure or industrial strategy.
Workers lose family rights
However, those workers will no longer be able to bring their families to the UK and will not be entitled to salary and visa fee discounts. The legislative measures represent the first policy changes from the Government's Immigration White Paper aimed at tightening controls and reducing migration.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: "We are delivering a complete reset of our immigration system to restore proper control and order, after the previous government allowed net migration to quadruple in four years." She added that the new rules would mean "stronger controls to bring migration down, to restore order to the immigration system and to ensure we focus on investing in skills and training here in the UK."
Rules take effect July
The changes, if approved by MPs and peers, will come into force from July 22. Further measures from the White Paper, including increasing English language requirements and raising the immigration skills charge, are expected to be in place by the end of the year.
The White Paper aims to reduce numbers, clamp down on system abuses and end reliance on cheap foreign labour. Home Office estimates indicate that changes from the plan could reduce the number of people coming to the UK by up to 100,000 per year when looking at eight proposals covering study and work routes.
Care sector raises alarm
The decision to scrap care worker visas has sparked concerns from the sector, with GMB national officer Will Dalton describing it as "potentially catastrophic". He warned that the care sector was "utterly reliant on migrant workers" and still had more than 130,000 vacancies across the country.
The Home Office believes there are 40,000 potential staff members originally brought over by "rogue" providers who could work in the sector while UK staff are trained up. Transitional arrangements for overseas care workers already in the UK have been set out by the department on Tuesday.
(PA) Note: This article has been edited with the help of Artificial Intelligence.
