The Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has said that care providers should be recruiting from a “pool of people” that have already come to the UK as care workers as she announced the closing of care recruitment from abroad
Doing the media round this morning Cooper ahead of Keir Starmer unveiling the government’s big plan to cut immigration tomorrow, said that despite care home staffing worries, there is a large enough pool of foreign workers who are already in Britain.
She told Sky News that there will need to be “new workforce strategies, new requirements to train here in the UK” following these rules if employers want employ workers from abroad.
“Under the Tories overseas recruitment shot up while UK training was cut – a failed free-market experiment which quadrupled net migration in 4years” she said adding
“Tomorrow’s White Paper will restore control to the immigration system, bring down net migration & boost skills & training in the UK”
Responding to the news,The Homecare Association warned that the new immigration restrictions could deepen social care workforce shortages, risking harm to older and disabled people across the UK.
Employers will be required to prove they have trained domestic staff before turning to international recruitment. This is despite a 70,000 drop in British national careworkers since 2020/21 and no parallel workforce strategy or funding plan to address these challenges.
International recruitment has been vital in addressing the severe workforce shortages in homecare. Between 2021/22 and 2023/24, more than 185,000 international recruits joined adult social care, helping to stabilise a sector that continues to face over 130,000 vacancies and persistent recruitment challenges.
CEO of the Homecare Association, Dr Jane Townson OBE, commented:
“International recruitment is a lifeline for the homecare sector, enabling us to provide vital support to older and disabled people in their own homes. Care providers are already struggling to recruit within the UK. We are deeply concerned the Government has not properly considered what will happen to the millions of people who depend on care at home to live safely and independently.”
Lib Dem MP for Cheadle Tom Morrison wrote on X
“I’m sorry, but this just absolutely stupid. The amount of care providers in my constituency that depend on workers from abroad is huge. With NICs rises, couple with winter fuel cuts, this will just do even more damage to the care sector.“
