Sector Broadly Welcomes Home Secretary’s New Settlement Plans for Migrant Workers

The Government’s decision to abandon plans that would have forced many migrant care workers to wait up to 15 years before qualifying for Indefinite Leave to Remain has been broadly welcomed by leaders across the health and social care sectors.

The Home Secretary’s revised approach, which preserves a five-year settlement route for eligible workers who arrived before May 2025, has been described as an important recognition of the contribution made by international staff and a welcome response to widespread concerns about the original proposals.

However, while organisations have praised the change as a significant step towards fairness and greater certainty for workers and their families, they have also warned that questions remain over eligibility, transitional arrangements and protections for those affected by exploitative employers.

Others have stressed that the decision must be accompanied by a longer-term workforce strategy to address persistent recruitment and retention challenges across adult social care.

Professor Vic Rayner OBE, NCF CEO said: “We welcome this afternoon’s announcement reversing the government’s previous intention to require all care workers subject to a visa, to wait 15 years before being able to apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain. NCF, alongside many colleagues and organisations across the care and support sector have campaigned for such a policy change and this is a reassuring start that indicates the government has heard our voices and started to address the inherent unfairness in the original proposals.

“This announcement serves as an important opportunity to recognise the highly skilled people who are already hugely valued members of our communities and turn up day in day out to deliver care and support to people across the country. However, we remain aware that there is much more that we need to do to ensure that the skills and professionalism demonstrated by our international colleagues are fully valued by the public and policy makers alike. We also need to continue to raise the status of care work and encourage people to explore the many exciting and rewarding career opportunities available in adult social care and support.”

Professor Martin Green OBE, Chief Executive of Care England, said: “This is an important step forward, and we should celebrate it for what it is. Thousands of international care workers came to Britain in good faith, worked hard, paid their taxes and dedicated themselves to caring for others. They have built lives here, raised families and become part of our communities. They deserve certainty about their future.

International care workers stood by this country during the pandemic, providing essential care when we needed them most. Yet the previous proposals threatened to undermine their future here, without offering a credible plan to recruit and retain more workers from within the UK. Care England has consistently raised these concerns, alongside many others, and it is encouraging that those voices have been heard.

It is right that the Government has also recognised the position of workers who have lost their sponsorship through no fault of their own. We have seen first-hand how devastating that uncertainty can be, both for workers and the care providers who depend on them.

The government has promised greater support for these workers, yet the funding for regional partnerships helping them find new employment is due to end in March 2027. We cannot promise displaced care workers greater protection at the same time as the infrastructure designed to help them is being wound down by the government.

If the government intends to give workers more time to find another sponsor, there must also be somewhere for them to go for practical help. That means maintaining a route into ethical employers, access to appropriate immigration advice and effective coordination between the Home Office, local government and care providers.

This announcement deserves recognition, but it cannot be the end of the story. We need protections that work in practice, certainty for workers and their families, and a system that allows care providers to retain the people our communities rely on every day.”.

Dr Jane Townson OBE, Chief Executive of the Homecare Association, said: “We welcome the government’s recognition of care workers’ contribution and its decision to protect the five-year route for many who answered Britain’s call. This will bring considerable relief to workers, their families and the people they support.

“Our members have consistently warned that extending settlement would drive experienced staff away. Retaining them protects trusted relationships and helps people continue living safely at home.
“But this is not a blanket exemption, and the detail matters. The Home Secretary has linked protection to annual earnings of £25,000 and limited transitional arrangements to those who joined before the May 2025 White Paper.

“Some workers have lost earnings because their sponsor provided too few hours, failed to pay them or lost its licence. That does not mean they were unwilling to contribute. Describing a further five-year visa as a second chance risks blaming people for circumstances beyond their control.

“We welcome more time to find a legitimate employer and help to move away from rogue sponsors. But workers who have already spent years here must have that time recognised. Victims of exploitation should not have to start their journey to settlement again.

“Care workers’ contribution cannot be measured by salary alone. Their skilled work supports families and the NHS every day. Government cannot fairly constrain pay through council and NHS purchasing decisions, then penalise workers for low earnings.

“We need clear safeguards for disrupted earnings, partners and children, and an explanation of how the wider settlement conditions will apply. Those who joined after the May 2025 cut-off also deserve fair treatment.

“Fair settlement must go alongside fair commissioning. Public contracts must fund decent pay and reliable hours. The government must honour its commitment that workers will not be punished for their employers’ failings.”

Ben Morrin, chief executive of NHS Employers, said: “NHS Employers are pleased with today’s announcement which sees over 10,000 current NHS healthcare support workers, working alongside nurses, midwives, physiotherapists and doctors, treated the same as their colleagues in terms of the immigration rules.

“This year alongside trade unions, we’ve highlighted the unfair impact the government’s initial proposals would have for the staff who provide fundamental care to hundreds of thousands of patients every day.

“The Home Secretary has replaced her former policy which would have meant that care workers already in the NHS and social care would have needed to wait 15 years before getting indefinite leave to remain.

“As long as they arrived in the UK before May 2025, they will now have the right to remain after five years.

“The NHS fully supports a managed migration system with robust enforcement of fair rules. No one should be subjected to exploitative employment practice. Neither should the immigration rules change after you’ve signed up.

“These are valued healthcare workers in essential patient-facing roles, caring for patients every day and supporting clinical teams. They have also put down roots and built their lives in communities across the country.

“While we expect more care assistant roles to now be filled through local recruitment, treating valued staff who are already here fairly is vital to the NHS.

“High-quality patient care relies on the contribution of the whole NHS team, including those in support roles. The decision confirmed today will help NHS employers and staff continue to deliver high-quality patient care.”

Simon Bottery, Senior Fellow at The King’s Fund, said: ‘This is an important recognition of the crucial role migrant workers play in maintaining the social care services people and families rely on. It was also unfair to invite people to come and work in social care only to change the terms on which they came to the UK after they had arrived.

‘But it should not lull policymakers and those working in the sector into thinking that international recruitment can once again be the answer to workforce challenges.

‘For too long, governments of all hues have failed to have a coherent and effective policy to confront the chronic workforce problems in adult social care. The latest data from Skills for Care suggests there are now more domestic workers leaving care work than there are joining.

‘As a result, the sector remains heavily reliant on overseas recruitment. Almost half (47%) of all new starters in 2025/26 were recruited internationally, underlining how essential migrant workers continue to be to delivering care services. But this supply of workers should not be taken for granted as new King’s Fund analysis shows overseas recruitment has fallen from its high point of 105,000 in 2023/24 to 30,000 in 2025/26.

‘Exempting care workers may ease some of the pressures on adult social care services. But this should be accompanied by a long-term workforce strategy that tackles the root causes of social care staff shortages. This includes delivering a meaningful Fair Pay Agreement and helping the sector attract more domestic workers, particularly those not in education, employment and training (NEETs). Our research shows that while young people are a significant untapped source of recruits, with 18-24-year-olds making up just 7% of the social care workforce, there is work to be done to make a career in care more attractive and sustainable.’

Dr Dora-Olivia Vicol, CEO of the Work Rights Centre, said: “The Home Secretary’s concession for care workers will no doubt be welcomed by those who answered this country’s call in its hour of need. Asking them to wait 15 years was never right.

“We are greatly relieved that migrant care workers will no longer be tied to rogue employers and will be given longer to find a new job before their visas are curtailed. This is what we have been urging the government to do for years, and we are thankful they listened.

“However, it remains deeply unfair that other migrant workers, including those already in this country, are still facing an extended 10-year path to settlement. Shabana Mahmood’s failure to listen to calls from MPs, the TUC and the general public to drop the retrospective element of these proposals is extremely disappointing. This is not ‘fair play’. It’s changing the goalposts halfway. It’s fundamentally un-British.

“This decision ignores the evidence from the Migration Advisory Committee, which only last year found that Skilled Workers invariably make a positive fiscal contribution to our country, and it sacrifices their futures in the name of appearing tough on migration.”