Care England Comments: Changes to Immigration

In response to the Home Secretary’s announcement of changes to immigration announced today (Monday 4 December), Professor Martin Green OBE, Chief Executive of Care England says:

“The government recognised the important role international recruitment plays in the adult social care sector. Immigration is something which has been shown to save sectors in the past; immigration saved the NHS post World War 2. 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.”