The Government’s latest immigration announcement, particularly its proposal to end international recruitment into the social care sector, is deeply concerning, reflecting a profound failure to value care or the people who provide it. Previous visa changes, including restrictions on bringing dependants, have already had a significant impact: only 8,000 international care workers arrived between April and June 2024, down from 26,000 per quarter the previous year (The King’s Fund, 2024). With over 130,000 vacancies in adult social care, accounting for 8.3% of the workforce, a rate nearly three times higher than that in the wider economy, and more than 27,000 in NHS nursing roles, the system is now at crisis point (Skills for Care, 2024; NHS Digital, 2025).
In his foreword to the white paper, the Prime Minister echoes the language of his Reform counterparts, describing migration as having “exploded” and its effects as “incalculable.” He claims the economy has been “distorted by perverse incentives to import workers rather than invest in our skills.” However, the reality is more complex. Recruitment and retention challenges in adult social care have long been driven by low and unfair pay, limited career progression, and a lack of standardised training (Unfair To Care, 2024). These factors have led tens of thousands of domestic workers to leave the sector for better-paid roles in other industries (Local Government Association, 2024; Care England, 2024) with data showing that despite the 93,000 direct care roles unfilled in 2023/24, the number of British care workers declined by 30,000 (Skills for Care, 2024).
Social care is not “low-skilled” work – it is vital, complex, and relational labour that sustains our communities. Rather than strengthening public services, this policy threatens not only to deepen staffing shortages but worsen outcomes for those who rely most on care services: older people living alone, people with disabilities requiring daily support, and those with complex health needs. If the government is serious about tackling inequality, it must start by transforming our health and social care system, not by further restricting legal immigration.
