UK struggles with shortage of care workers as Labour government continues migration curbs
The sector has been reliant on overseas workers from the EU earlier and now former colonies such as India and Nigeria becoming key sources of cheap labour.
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Care homes in England are warning they may have to close, as the sector’s longstanding staffing crisis faces further trouble due to changes in immigration policy.
The latest official migration statistics show the number of health and care worker visas granted to people to come work in the UK has dropped 25% between June 2023 and June 2024. There was an even more dramatic fall between April and June 2024 when the number of visas granted dropped by 81%, to 6,564. During the same period in 2023, 35,470 visas were granted.
The decline is undoubtedly linked to the previous government’s decision in late 2023 to stop allowing migrant care workers to bring family members with them. This was part of the Conservatives’ plan to deliver the “biggest ever reduction in net migration” (the difference between immigration and emigration).
The effect has been dire for the social care sector, which relies heavily on recruitment from overseas. In England, 19% of the adult social care workforce is non-British. Scotland and Northern Ireland, which both raised pay for care workers in recent years, are less reliant on migration.
Demand for social care is increasing throughout the UK, as it is elsewhere. People are living for longer, with major illnesses and disabilities as they grow older. To meet increasing demand, projections suggest that an extra 480,000 jobs will be needed in the...
