What The End Of The Care Visa Route Means – And What Comes Next
By Abbey Milne, Social Care Lead of Sona (www.getsona.com)
From April 2022, the Health and Care Worker visa route gave UK care providers a desperately needed pipeline to international talent. But with the current Labour Government signalling an end to this route, providers are once again staring into the eye of a workforce storm.
It’s a pivotal moment. The social care sector already faces more than 150,000 vacancies. Labour costs are rising sharply, up to 10% in 2025 alone, driven by increases in the National Living Wage and employer National Insurance contributions. Now, with international recruitment under threat, many operators will see their already narrow options for staffing become even tighter.
Ending the care worker visa route is more than a headline, it has real operational consequences. It’s no secret that providers have leaned heavily on overseas hires to fill roles that remain persistently unattractive to the domestic workforce due to pay, flexibility and public perception.
Cutting off this access will likely drive greater dependence on agency staff, which are not only costly, often commanding 30% premiums, but also disrupt continuity of care and team morale.
Even before this immigration shift, providers were bracing for significant financial pressure. A typical organisation with a £100m income is already facing £5.5m in additional labour-related costs, including £7m from wage increases and £5m from higher employer NI contributions.
And that’s without factoring in the operational impact of the upcoming Employment Rights Bill. Since April, predictable scheduling, compensation for last-minute changes and stricter zero-hours rules have become mandatory. That means more administrative load, less flexibility and higher staffing costs.
In short, the financial squeeze is very real. And the traditional cost-cutting playbook, reducing staff ratios, asking councils for more funds, or freezing employee benefits, is no longer viable, especially when quality of care and compliance are non-negotiable.
A modern response: smarter operations. So what now?
The good news is that providers aren’t powerless. The most resilient organisations are shifting from reactive crisis management to strategic operational transformation. That means investing in systems that make labour smarter, not just cheaper.
In our latest industry report, we break down how providers are already unlocking significant savings and efficiencies through smarter operations.
Modern shift management platforms, for instance, allow providers to surface open shifts to existing team members quickly, reducing the need to fill gaps with costly agency staff. In one example, agency spend dropped by 38% within four weeks of deploying a new digital scheduling solution.
Additionally, better time tracking tools with geo-fenced clock-ins and payroll integrations have helped providers save up to £4.2m annually by avoiding overpayments and automating manual processes.
Intelligent scheduling systems now also use commissioned hours and real-time staffing data to avoid both understaffing and costly overstaffing. This has led to 2–5% savings in total labour costs, equivalent to up to £3m for some organisations.
With new compliance demands arriving this year, reducing the administrative burden is critical. Tools that consolidate scheduling, HR and payroll into one workflow can free up hundreds of hours per year, allowing managers to focus on team support and care quality.
This isn’t just about efficiency, it’s about survival. According to a recent Hft and Care England report, a third of providers are now considering exiting the market due to cost pressures and long-term uncertainty. But those who embrace operational transformation stand a chance not just to weather this shift, but to emerge stronger.
At Sona, we help social care providers meet today’s challenges head on, with solutions that drive efficiency, empower teams and elevate care. Advinia, a residential care provider with over 4,000 employees, was spending between £35,000 and £40,000 a week on agency cover. After transforming their internal scheduling strategy, they brought that figure down to £16,000 a week, a change that’s not just financial but operationally transformational.
As leaders, we need to view this moment not just as a policy change but as a call to action. The gap between those who invest in smart systems and those who don’t is widening, and fast. Providers that digitise their operations, empower their teams, and deliver consistently high-quality care will be the ones who thrive in this new era.
While we can’t control the economic landscape, we can control how we adapt. The providers who do so with agility and foresight will help shape the future of social care, not just survive in it.
