More than a quarter of care agents came to the United Kingdom to stem an endowment crisis in the sector were hired by employers who lost their license against sponsoring visas, the government announced on Wednesday.
According to the start of 2022 Home officeallowing care providers to hire recruits abroad in entry -level roles at low prices for the first time.
An increase in visas granted to care workers and family members was an important factor causing a post-pandemic increase immigration to the United Kingdomwho culminated at more than 900,000 in the year until June 2023.
About 150,000 healthcare officers came to the United Kingdom between the opening of the Visa route and at the end of 2023, when the previous conservative government tightened the rules and civil servants began to examine the applications more closely.
But many of those who arrive discovered that they were underpaid, mistreated Or not given as much work that has been offered to them, in a sector where the low salary and bad practices have long been widespread.
“The care route in 2023 was roughly the Far West – it is clear that operating practices were widespread,” said Madeleine Somper, director of the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford. “What remains to be seen is whether the situation is better controlled now,” she added.
The Ministry of the Interior said that the Government had revoked more than 470 licenses to sponsor visas in the care sector between July 2022 and December 2024, in a repression on the mistreatment of the visa route and the exploitation of workers.
Of the 39,000 affected workers, around 10,000 had already left their posts when their employer has lost the license or had since found another work in the sector, said the Ministry of the Interior.
But several thousands have been left without income and are not counted. Consumption said workers have often had trouble finding a new job even while employers have continued to recruit thousands of staff abroad.
Under the changes to the immigration rules, published on Wednesday, employers will have to show that they have tried to recruit in this basin of international workers already in England before hiring from abroad.
“While we reprimand shameful rogue operators … We have to do our best to bring the victims back to enriching careers in social care for adults,” said Stephen Kinnock, Minister of State for Care.
However, care sector The representatives fear that the new requirements are aggravating the problems rooted in the underfunding of their sector and in the practices of commissioning local authorities which lead to standards.
Jane Townson, director general of the Homecare Association, a sector organization, said that the change of rule by work was “politically opportune” but did not address a “broken commissioning system that makes stable work impossible”.
Many workers who had lost sponsorship due to the repression of the home office had “undergone trauma due to exploitation, job loss or homeless” and some needed “significant support and comfort before they can return to work,” she said.
Additional reports by Amy Borrett
