If you thought Australia’s aged care sector was doing it tough, spare a thought for our UK counterparts.
Operators are warning the UK’s aged care sector stands on the brink of collapse following new visa restrictions that block care providers from hiring overseas workers.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer (pictured above) announced a series of measures last Monday (12 May) to curb the number of migrants coming to the UK, including a plan to end care worker visas for overseas recruitment.
An 80-page white paper titled ‘Restoring Control over the Immigration System’ cites the exploitation and abuse of a Health and Care Worker visa pathway introduced in 2020 for driving an increase in ‘lower skilled’ migration. See below.
As a consequence, the Government has closed the social care visa pathway to new overseas applicants. During a transitional period until 2028, visa extensions and in-country switching will be permitted for individuals already in the UK with existing work rights. However, this arrangement will remain under review.
The move, seen as a political response to recent election losses and anti-immigration sentiment by the Labour Government, has left the industry reeling.
“It’s a knee-jerk reaction targeting the wrong kind of immigration,” Brett Burton, Board Director at UK private care home operator Black Swan Care Group, told The Weekly SOURCE.
Brett Burton
With over 130,000 vacancies in the UK social care workforce, providers have long relied on international staff. Low government funding – home care providers receive as little as £18 (AUD$37) to £22 (AUD$45) per hour despite needing £30 (AUD$62) – means many operators are now expected to hand back contracts, which will leave older people without care and hospitals overwhelmed.
“Without foreign workers, aged care will collapse,” stated Burton. “The sector can’t survive on local labour alone.”
