Care Sector In "Precarious" State As Figures Show Overseas Worker Visas Plummeting
Health and social care sector has been described as in a "precarious" state following a steep fall in immigration. (Alamy)
4 min read
The adult social care sector faces a "precarious" future, an industry leader has said, as new Home Office figures showed a sharp fall in visas granted to overseas workers.
The Home Office granted 89,095 health and care visas in the year ending June 2024 — 26 per cent down on the previous year. The number granted in April-June 2024 period was 81 per cent lower than that period in 2023, according to figures published on Thursday.
A sharp fall in visas issued was expected after the previous Tory government imposed new restrictions on international recruitment in a bid to reduce overall net migration. In December James Cleverly, the then home secretary, announced care workers would no longer be able to bring dependents with them to the UK.
Cleverly, who is one of the six Conservative MPs in the running to be the next Tory leader, today said the data demonstrated his record of "delivery" while in the Home Office, in a bid to appeal to Conservative MPs and party members who want to see lower levels of immigration.
Net migration to the UK hit its highest figure ever in 2023 at 685,000. The figure was driven by a post-pandemic surge in health and care workers from overseas after the Conservative government led by Boris Johnson expanded the visa route, as well as a surge in international students coming to the UK.
Lucinda Allen, senior policy officer at the Health Foundation, told PoliticsHome while the trend shown in the figures was "expected", it could compound an already "precarious" situation facing the care sector, which is experiencing staff shortages.
"The impact of this recent decrease is still unclear, because we don't have the latest data on vacancies and it will take a while to kind of have an have a more immediate impact, or for us to see that impact in the data," said Allen.
"But the situation is definitely precarious, and we might start seeing higher vacancies in social care again, and that will affect people who need care and support."
Allen said the previous government's policy of preventing health and care workers from bringing their families may have played a role in the decline, but warned industry was already seeing high turnover of staff prior to the introduction of the policy.
"It is worth noting that even with the record levels of international recruitment that we saw in the past couple of years, vacancies and turnover did remain higher in social care than the rest of the labour market," said Allen.
"It's not just about international recruitment. It's clear that kind of there are more entrenched problems in with the social care workforce that the government needs to resolve".
Allen told PoliticsHome she would like to see a "holistic approach" on health and social care from the new Labour Government to tackle issues high vacancies and high staff turnover, which doesn't just involve better pay and conditions but has a "long-term plan" for training and qualifications, too.
Wes Streeting, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, has said the Government will establish a 'Fair Pay Agreement' in adult social care, setting minimum pay at £12 per hour and taking further steps to enhance staff benefits and training. Ministers hope the policy will help the care sector attract and retain more homegrown staff.
Researcher at the Migration Observatory, Ben Brindle, agreed with Allen that it's hard to say for sure what the biggest driver of the fall in visas issued was. The last Conservative government vowed to crack down on widespread exploitation in the care sector, which may have contributed to the fall in visas issues, he told PoliticsHome.
However, if the ban on dependents was the main reason, then "that would suggest there will be a more difficult challenge to fill vacancies" in the sector in the future, said.
Brindle said the figures released today were not a "surprise" and further point to overall net migration being "on a downward trajectory at the moment".
He said: "We can't see how big any fall is is going to be, but it certainly looks like the Labour Government is going to succeed in reducing net migration — which has said it would like to do — but in good part due to things which were already in train before they took office."
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