The UK government has announced that it’s ending the recruitment of care workers from abroad as part of efforts to curb net migration.
Yvette Cooper, Home Secretary, disclosed this on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg that new rules would be introduced this year, requiring care providers to either hire British nationals or extend the visas of foreign workers already residing in the UK.
According to her, “It’s time to end that care worker recruitment from abroad,” Emphasizing that the move is aimed at reducing the influx of lower-skilled migrants.
The policy forms part of a broader government plan to reduce net migration, with officials expecting the changes to result in up to 50,000 fewer lower-skilled and care worker visas being issued over the next 12 months.
Some of the several expected reforms include:
Raising the threshold for skilled worker visas from A-level to graduate level, narrowing the list of occupations eligible for temporary shortage visas, and tightening access to the Immigration Salary List (ISL), which currently allows employers to pay foreign workers 80% of the market rate for roles deemed to be in shortage—such as carpenters, graphic designers, and pharmaceutical technicians.
Cooper added that the government would not set specific targets for reducing net migration, arguing that past numerical goals had undermined the credibility of immigration policy.
