Care England Responds: Plummeting Visa Numbers Leave Social Care Sector in Crisis

Care England, the leading voice for adult social care providers in England, is gravely concerned by new figures showing a 65% drop in Health and Care Worker visa grants over the past year. This stark decrease, with grants falling by 84% between April and September 2024 compared to the same period in 2023, highlights the devastating impact of immigration policy changes on the adult social care workforce.

Professor Martin Green OBE, Chief Executive of Care England, said:

“Behind these numbers are real people; compassionate and skilled individuals who want to care for others but are being shut out. The decision to ban health and care workers from bringing their partners and children to the UK last December was short-sighted and profoundly damaging. It sent a message that these workers are welcome only for their labour, not as whole people with families and aspirations.

We are already battling a domestic workforce crisis, with 70,000 fewer British workers in the sector over the past two years. The pipeline of international recruits was keeping services afloat, but now even that lifeline is being cut off, and care providers are left scrambling to fill shortages, unable to deliver the amount of care they once could. How can we build a compassionate system when the workers at its heart are treated with such little regard?

We cannot solve the care crisis if we ask workers to leave behind their loved ones to come here. Restoring the right to bring dependants is not just the humane thing to do, it’s essential to attracting the workforce we desperately need. Let us ensure that those who care for others can also care for their own families.”

The ban on bringing dependants, introduced late last year, has created a two-tier system where NHS staff and other skilled workers can bring their families, but care workers, who are equally essential, are excluded. This disparity not only undermines recruitment efforts but further devalues the vital role of care workers.

Care England is urging the government to:

• Restore the right for care workers to bring their dependants to the UK, acknowledging their essential role in society and treating them with the dignity and respect they deserve.
• Increase investment in the sector to enhance pay, working conditions, and career opportunities for both international and domestic care workers, creating an attractive and sustainable workforce.
• Establish a fully funded, long-term workforce plan for adult social care, integrating these reforms and more to secure the sector’s future and meet the growing demand for care.

“Care work is about connection and compassion. It’s time the government showed the same compassion to the people who make it possible,” Professor Green concluded.