04 December 2023 , 16:43
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Home Secretary James Cleverly today unveiled migration curbs which critics fear will hammer social care.
Immigrants coming to work in care homes will be banned from bringing relatives with them - deterring foreigners from working in the under-pressure sector. Changes to the rules could slash the number of foreigners coming to the UK to work in social care, which is being crippled by an estimated 152,000 vacancies.
Home Secretary James Cleverly has announced the latest overhaul of migration rules, which will have a big impact on the social care sector (Getty Images/iStockphoto)Dennis Reed, director of the Silver Voices group, said: "This seems a panic measure to play to the Tory backbenches but it will heap further misery on the collapsing care system where, despite migrant workers, there are 150,000 vacancies. To deter skilled foreign workers when there are such severe labour shortages, and before improving the general pay and conditions in the sector, is serving a death sentence on the whole social care system.
Speaking to the Mirror, which is campaigning for Fair Care For All, he added: “Many providers will have to pull out of public sector contracts if they can't staff their commitments, and it will be vulnerable, older people who suffer by not having their care needs met.”
Age UK Charity Director Caroline Abrahams feared “older and disabled people in need of care, and their families, will pay a heavy price for the Government's changes to the migration rules”. She said: “It is an open secret that inward migration effectively saved the social care workforce last year and, as things stand, anything that undermines that source of support must be a real concern. Too many people in need struggle to access good care as it is, and the risk is that today's announcement will make the situation worse. It is facile for any policymaker to suggest that there are ample numbers of people already based here to fill the gaps in the social care workforce, without also agreeing to the action needed to make these roles more attractive domestically in terms of pay and conditions.”
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The amount overseas workers have to pay every year towards the NHS, called the immigration health surcharge, will rocket from £624 to £1,035. International students will not be allowed to bring dependants “unless they are on postgraduate courses designated as research programmes”, said the Cabinet Minister. They will also be blocked from quitting their courses and taking jobs “before their studies have been completed”, said the top Tory.
Revealing the Government’s “five-point plan”, Mr Cleverly told the Commons: “We will stop overseas care workers from bringing family dependants, and requiring care firms in England to be regulated by the Care Quality Commission in order to sponsor visas. Approximately 120,000 dependants accompanied 100,000 care workers and senior care workers in the year ending September 2023. Only 25% of dependants are estimated to be in work, meaning a significant number are drawing on public services and not helping to grow the economy.”
Care workers and home carers were added to the Government’s shortage occupation list for skilled workers in February 2022 - meaning firms could recruit directly from abroad for the first time. The measure was aimed at easing the crisis hammering the sector.
A report last month showed more than 123,500 people have arrived to work as care workers and senior care workers since the route was opened early last year. In May, a study showed the social care workforce had been boosted by 58,000 overseas staff over the past year. Unison general secretary Christina McAnea said: "These cruel plans spell total disaster for the NHS and social care - they benefit no one. Migrant workers were encouraged to come here because both sectors are critically short of staff; hospitals and care homes simply couldn't function without them.
"There’s also a global shortage of healthcare staff. Migrants will now head to more-welcoming countries, rather than be forced to live without their families. The Government is playing roulette with essential services just to placate its backbenchers and the far-right. But if ministers stopped ducking the difficult issues, and reformed social care as they've long promised, there wouldn't be such a shortage of workers. None of this is rocket science. Fund care properly and raise wages, and the sector becomes a more attractive place to work. But take away the migrant workers currently stopping care from going under and it collapses."
Many carers are paid the minimum wage of £10.42 an hour - an annual salary of just under £19,000. In the NHS, a newly-qualified nurse could expect to earn £28,407.
Care England chief executive Professor Martin Green said the Tories should boost carers’ pay. "The Government recognised the important role international recruitment plays in the adult social care sector,” he said. “Immigration is something which has been shown to save sectors in the past; immigration saved the NHS post World War Two. In a similar way now, immigration is saving the social care sector. Over the last year, we have seen a reduction of 53,000 domestic workers working in the care sector, but we have also seen an increase of 70,000 people from overseas starting in care-providing roles in the adult social care sector.
“With dependents being limited by the new changes, the government is making it harder for care providers to recruit foreign workers. If the Government now wants to move away from international recruitment as the solution to fixing the social care workforce crisis, it must act swiftly and invest in improving the pay and conditions to drive domestic recruitment."
Senior Cabinet Minister Mr Cleverly was forced to outline details of how the Tories plan to cut net migration after figures showed the level hit an election-manifesto busting record 745,000 in 2022. Among measures outlined was a hike in the minimum salaries for skilled workers. Currently they need to earn at least £26,200 a year to be eligible for a visa.
But from next spring, the level will rise to £38,700 - making it less attractive for bosses to import staff from abroad. Ministers hope it will encourage firms to recruit British workers, cutting the numbers of foreign employees. The Home Secretary insisted: “These changes will have a tangible impact on net migration.”
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But the Government will stop short of imposing the new rule on the NHS and care sectors, which rely on foreign labour. Mr Cleverly said: “Those coming on the health and social care visa route will be exempted so we can continue to bring the healthcare workers on which our care sector and NHS depends.” The Mirror is campaigning for Fair Care For All.
Meanwhile, Mr Cleverly is due to fly to Rwanda within hours to sign a treaty with Kigali, which ministers hope will help convince judges the Government’s deal to send Channel migrants to the East African country can go ahead. He told MPs: “Enough is enough; immigration policy must be fair, legal, and sustainable - that’s why we are also taking the fight to illegal immigration. Our plan to stop the boats is working - small boat arrivals are down by a third, even as illegal migration across Europe is on the rise.”
He claimed the overhaul he announced “will deliver the biggest ever reduction in net migration”. He insisted: “In total this package, plus our reduction in student dependants, will mean that around 300,000 fewer people will come in future years than have come to the UK last year.”
Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper fumed: “Today’s statement is an admission of years of total failure by this Conservative Government - failure on the immigration system and failure on the economy. It’s another example of the total chaos at the heart of this Government.”