Last week, when Keir Starmer announced the Immigration White paper, one of the major concerns that was highlighted was that the care sector would face grave problems due to the scraping of care worker visas.
Yvette Cooper said it is "time to end that care worker recruitment from abroad" and rules will change this year - instead requiring firms to hire British nationals or extend visas of overseas workers already in the country in a bid to cut net migration, and says measures will cut up to 50,000 lower-skilled and care workers coming to the UK over the next year.
According to Bernie Suresparan, Executive Chairman at We Care Group & Summit Care Group, the sector can support training, but the real issue doesn’t lie there. “We don’t need the government to train people for us. We need them to give us the right funding. The only effective way to address this shortage is by offering wages that are competitive and equivalent to what someone doing a similar job in the NHS would receive.”
At the risk of repeating a point already made, wanting employers to focus their time and resources on upskilling British nationals is a reasonable ambition but not a practical one until the government is ready to invest in the sector.
The truth is that it is migrants who have long formed the backbone of the NHS and the social care sector and that is for a reason. The job that these “lower-skilled” workers do cannot be taken over by the Britons. If they could, they would already have.
According to Bernie, “care workers have been wrongly classified as “unskilled.” That’s incredibly disappointing. Not everyone can do this job. It requires patience, compassion, and a high level of skill. Carers are special and they deserve to be treated as such.”
Care sector on what these changes mean
The UK care sector has around 131,000 vacancies, down from 183,000, thanks largely to international recruitment, Bernie points out . But that lifeline is being cut off in two ways. First, in March of last year, the government stopped allowing dependents to accompany care workers. That caused a sharp decline in applications, which in turn automatically brought immigration numbers down.
“There’s really no reason to make further restrictions now, the system has already self-corrected. The numbers have dropped so low that it’s no longer a major issue. The government’s bigger concern appears to be people crossing the Channel from France — but those numbers are also counted under immigration, which skews the debate”, he said.
He further adds, “Looking ahead, we will have 64,000 new residents entering care each year. The real question is: where will we find the people to care for them? That’s the crisis we should be talking about.
“Yes, there are people in the UK who could work but aren't currently doing so, and the government hasn’t done enough to address that. But cutting off access to international care workers — who contribute billions to the UK economy through the care sector — is short-sighted. Fewer workers means fewer residents can be cared for, and if we can’t meet that demand, the economy will inevitably suffer.”
Amrit Dhaliwal, Chief Executive Officer at Walfinch, a domiciliary care agency also shared, “Care isn’t just about numbers, it’s about people. We need a proper plan to grow the care workforce by over half a million by 2040. Without it, we’re not just risking staff shortages — we’re risking another NHS gridlock like 2021. This isn’t a time for quick fixes. It’s a moment to think long-term, invest in training, and build a workforce that reflects the communities it serves.”
Sharing more about how Walfinch will be affected by the proposed measure, Shilpi Verma, the Managing Director at the agency shared that care homes are, to a degree, dependent on overseas recruitment, particularly care workers from South Asia. According to her, “This is not only due to staffing needs but also because a large proportion of our service users are of South Asian origin. These clients often require support in their native languages, such as Gujarati, Punjabi, Urdu, Hindi, or Bengali, to ensure clear communication, comfort, and trust.”
She further added, “Any change in immigration policy that restricts the recruitment of overseas care workers could potentially have an impact on care within our communities. This is particularly true for residents living with dementia, who typically respond better to carers who understand their cultural background and speak their language.
“Without the ability to recruit from South Asia, we would face increased challenges with staffing levels but also it will become more difficult to deliver care that is truly person-centred and culturally appropriate.”
While Shilpi believes that the government’s plan to encourage British nationals to enter the care sector has potential it will need the right support, accompanied by proper training, competitive wages, and clear career progression opportunities, to be a practical and sustainable long-term solution.
“That said, for this plan to truly succeed—especially in culturally diverse communities—it’s essential that training includes cultural competence and language support, so British carers can meet the specific needs of service users from different backgrounds”, she said.
