Care England Warns Government Is Sending a Damaging Message to Overseas Care Staff

Care England, the leading voice for independent adult social care providers, raises serious concerns following the Government’s publication of a new legal migration model that fundamentally reshapes how people settle in the United Kingdom.

The announcement sets out a contribution-based system in which most migrants will be required to spend ten years in the UK before becoming eligible for settlement. Higher earners and certain priority public service roles may qualify sooner, while low-paid roles are placed in the most restrictive category.

Within this framework, the Government has proposed that low-paid occupations, including those across adult social care, will face a fifteen-year baseline before being able to settle. This represents the longest settlement route of any group in the new model. The announcement also positions these changes in the context of the closure of the Health and Care Worker Visa route in May, signalling the Government’s intention to significantly reduce future settlement opportunities for the care workforce.

Professor Martin Green OBE, Chief Executive of Care England, said: “Placing care workers on a 15-year settlement route is a grave injustice to the very people who keep our care system standing. These are the people who care for our parents, our partners, our children; who bring reassurance in moments of deep uncertainty and dignity on the hardest days. To tell them they must wait a decade and a half before they can build any sense of security in this country is indefensible.

And what makes this worse is that the decision sends a chilling message that the contribution of care workers is valued less than the contribution of others. It is wrong, it is short-sighted, and it reveals a disturbing disconnect from the reality of the workforce crisis the Government claims it wants to solve.

These reforms will not address that crisis. They will intensify it. They will push away the dedicated people we rely on most at the very moment the country needs them. Care workers deserve dignity, respect and a fair route to security, not a 15-year barrier and a message that their work somehow matters less.”

Care England is calling on the Government to take immediate action to prevent further destabilisation of the workforce:
1. Reclassify adult social care within the migration model: Remove care workers from the longest settlement route and recognise them as an essential part of the public service workforce.
2. Introduce immediate transitional protections for existing staff: Ensure current international recruits are not left in uncertainty or subjected to retrospective barriers to remaining in the UK.
3. Deliver a fully funded workforce plan for adult social care: The Government already has a ready-made roadmap. The Skills for Care Workforce Strategy, co-produced with the sector, sets out the steps required to build a strong domestic workforce. It must now be put into action and properly funded.

Care England will continue engaging closely with officials as the consultation period begins and will work with providers to assess the impact of these proposals on recruitment, retention, and service stability.