The UK government is set to stop issuing care worker visas to foreign nationals as part of a broader effort to reduce net migration.
Under the new rules, expected to take effect later this year, care homes will be required to recruit from within the UK or hire individuals already residing in the country.
Zimbabwe is among the countries likely to be significantly affected by the UK’s decision to halt overseas recruitment of care workers.
According to the Home Secretary Yvette Cooper confirmed the government’s plans to introduce “new restrictions on lower-skilled workers” and close the visa route for overseas care workers entirely.
“We’re going to introduce new restrictions on lower-skilled workers, so new visa controls, because we think actually what we should be doing is concentrating on the higher-skilled migration and we should be concentrating on training in the UK,” she said.
Instead, care companies will be expected to hire British nationals, extend existing visas, or recruit from a pool of over 10,000 foreign care workers who arrived legally but were left jobless due to employer exploitation.
“Companies should recruit from a pool of people who came as care workers in good faith but had been “exploited” by unscrupulous employers.
Care companies should be recruiting from those workers. They can also extend existing visas. They could recruit as well from people who are on other visas, who are already here. But we do think it’s time to end that care worker recruitment from abroad.”
No Targets, but Tighter Controls
The government will not set specific net migration targets, Cooper said, as such figures “undermined the credibility of anything that governments do.” However, officials expect the changes to reduce migration by up to 50,000 workers annually.
Among the planned changes is an increase in the skill threshold for work visas — raising it from A-level to graduate level — and a narrower list of shortage occupations eligible for temporary visa exemptions.
Care Sector Concerns Over Growing Pressure
The announcement has alarmed leaders in the care sector, who warn the changes could deepen staffing shortages.
Nadra Ahmed, executive chairman of the National Care Association, told the BBC that while providers “always prefer to have a domestic workforce,” such a workforce “is not available.”
She described the current situation as “already challenging,” adding that the new restrictions would make it “worse.”
Government Plans Pay Reform to Attract Local Workers
To offset the expected recruitment strain, Cooper said the government would introduce a “fair pay agreement” for care workers, aimed at making the profession more appealing to UK citizens.
“We want to improve pay and conditions in the sector so that we’re less reliant on overseas workers,” she said.
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