Unions and care providers have accused the government of putting services at risk after it confirmed plans to shut down the overseas care worker visa route.
The long-awaited immigration white paper, to be published on Monday, includes measures to ban new recruitment from abroad for care roles, as part of a wider effort to reduce legal migration and prioritise UK-based workers.
The decision has triggered an angry backlash from industry leaders and trade unions, who say the sector is already stretched to breaking point and still relies heavily on international staff to keep services running.
Prof Martin Green, the chief executive of Care England, said the government was “kicking us while we’re already down”.
“For years, the sector has been propping itself up with dwindling resources, rising costs, and mounting vacancies,” he said.
“International recruitment wasn’t a silver bullet, but it was a lifeline. Taking it away now, with no warning, no funding, and no alternative, is not just shortsighted – it’s cruel.”
Unison, the UK’s biggest union representing health and care workers, also criticised the decision and called for urgent clarity on what the changes meant for those already working in the UK.
Christina McAnea, Unison’s general secretary, said: “The NHS and the care sector would have collapsed long ago without the thousands of workers who’ve come to the UK from overseas.
“Migrant health and care staff already here will now be understandably anxious about what’s to happen to them. The government must reassure these overseas workers they’ll be allowed to stay and continue with their indispensable work.”
She urged ministers to stop describing care jobs as “low skilled” and said the government must “get on with making its fair pay agreement a reality”.
In 2023, more than 58,000 overseas care workers came to the UK on skilled worker visas – nearly half of all new entrants to the social care workforce.
Labour has defended the policy as part of a wider reset of the immigration system, aimed at reducing reliance on overseas labour and investing in the domestic workforce.
The home secretary, Yvette Cooper, defended the policy during an interview on BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg. She argued employers should recruit from the existing pool of care workers already in the UK, including those who arrived on visas but were never placed in roles.
“They can also extend existing visas. They could recruit as well from people who are on other visas who are already here,” she said. “But we do think it’s time to end that care worker recruitment.”