Changes To Skilled Worker Visas Need Whole Government Collaboration Report Reveals
The Home Office has been criticized for repeatedly failing to assess the impact of changing a visa route for skilled workers.
A report by the government’s spending watchdog, the National Audit office (NAO) said the department does not have a full understanding of how its skilled worker visa route is operating.
The route was introduced in 2020 in a bid to attract skilled workers to Britain, but significant changes since then “have not always been based on a full assessment of potential impacts,” the NAO report said.
Ahead of the government’s upcoming Immigration White Paper, the independent public spending watchdog has examined the Home Office’s management of the Skilled Worker visa route, which opened in December 2020.
Changes to immigration rules are subject to collective government agreement. The Home Office is responsible for immigration policy and leads the assessment of potential changes, and while it reviewed the use of the route, it did not produce an impact assessment before changing entry requirements for care workers in 2022, nor has it evaluated the route since this expansion.
Changes to reduce the use of the route in Spring 2024 – to help reduce net migration – were made with limited consultation or without full analysis of potential consequences for different industries and businesses. The number of Skilled Worker visas issued has fallen in 2024, with 252,700 fewer compared with 2023 – a 50% reduction.
The report shows the changes have reduced use of the route by sectors including social care. The government’s aim for the Skilled Worker visa was to recruit overseas workers, alongside wider government initiatives to grow the domestic labour market. However, the Home Office and departments have not always collaborated effectively on immigration and skills policies.
Nuffield Trust Researcher Cyril Lobont said:
“This report makes clear that sudden immigration policy changes have happened without proper coordination across government, and with little regard for their impact on essential care services which are struggling to recruit enough staff domestically. Such changes can be implemented at speed, but the problems they create then take years to fix.
“The social care sector remains hugely reliant on skilled overseas workers to deliver care and support to the people who need it, and we need to retain a route for them to come to the UK. At the same time, we know from our research that more must be done to make careers in social care more attractive domestically.
“Findings of “widespread evidence” of exploitation and underpayment of wages in the care sector are sadly not surprising. This highlights how important it is that the government gets their new Fair Work Agency set up right to robustly stamp this out.
“The NAO report is more evidence that there’s a need for a clear workforce strategy for the social care sector as the current piecemeal approach just isn’t coherent. We already have high vacancies, and projections suggest far more people will need to start working in the sector to meet growing care needs. Plans to build a stable workforce will have to include both a domestic and overseas pipeline, and the government should place evidence front-and-centre when making these critical decisions.”
Dr Jane Townson OBE, CEO of the Homecare Association, said:
“The exploitation of care workers isn’t primarily an immigration problem. It’s the inevitable consequence of a broken funding and commissioning system. Some councils and NHS bodies are buying homecare at rates as low as £16.12 per hour; the UK average is just £23.26 when £32.14 is needed. These rates don’t even cover direct staff costs at the national minimum wage, never mind contributing to other running costs. We have what can only be described as state-sponsored labour exploitation, driven by underfunding and unethical commissioning of homecare by councils and the NHS. Lack of effective regulation compounds the problems.
“The plight of sponsored workers has shone a spotlight on the labour exploitation many UK homecare workers have experienced for years. It’s a symptom, not a cause. You cannot solve this through visa restrictions or employment legislation alone. What we need is a cross-government approach that fixes how care is funded, commissioned, purchased, and regulated. Without this, we’re simply shifting deck chairs on the Titanic while those giving and receiving care and support continue to suffer.”
