The government's sweeping new care policy will impact those who need support most

11 May 2025, 21:50 | Updated: 12 May 2025, 00:11

The devil will be in the detail and this announcement may have many hidden rabbit holes which will be laid bare.

It is important to understand the care sector only uses international recruitment as a last resort.

The irony is that in rushing this new announcement, the government has chosen to deliberately misunderstand the impact, which will be felt by those who receive care, can’t access it, and unpaid carers.

The scandal of the abuse of the visa licence debacle in 2021/22 was created by the Home Office, despite warning from the sector.

In issuing licences to newly formed recruitment agency’s, they missed out the crucial safety net of responsible providers who were struggling at that time.

People came in legitimately but with spurious contracts from profiteers, preying on an already fragile sector because of growing vacancies.

The increased vacancies were caused by Brexit and the Covid ‘no jab, no job’ policy, exclusively for our sector.

We saw 40,000 of our workforce make the choice to leave, and many joined the NHS where it was not a requirement.

This led to increasing vacancies and a badly damaged image for social care, making domestic recruitments harder.

It is important to note that, both social care and health have always had some reliance on migrant support but the climate changed rapidly.

Providers were unable to recruit from the domestic market partly due to the fact of the cost of living crisis.

Energy prices, interest rates, fuel costs etc were putting pressure on families and the sector was not being funded to match what other industries could pay.

This led to pressure on government to put social care on the shortage occupational list with over 160000 vacancies and provider closures.

It was obvious to those in office. In order to keep the sector sustainable there was a need for it to be able to recruit an international workforce.

Our preference would always be to recruit domestically but sadly we have not been able to generate enough interest when funding remains a barrier to ensure that pay adequately rewards our highly skilled workforce.

They are supporting people with complex healthcare needs which were previously met in hospital settings.

It is also important to say that the international route is not cheaper - it is in fact more expensive.

It requires licences, travel arrangements, accommodation options, orientation of new environment, training and a lot more. That’s what ethical recruitment is!

Those who are displaced did not come through safe routes. They were brought in by companies set up overnight and charged huge amounts promising a better future.

There were limited checks on qualifications and language skills.

When they arrived, they had no jobs as promised and spent time knocking on care home doors begging for jobs. They were abandoned or abused by agencies who charged provider unbelievable fees for shift covers.

Many of them are now part of the ‘domestic’ workforce but their skills are not sufficient and/or they have a preference of which part of the sector they work in understandably.

They were promised work and ended up lost in a system based on false promises.

So, what we need is the Home Secretary to explain how these measures are going to help to deliver a care option if they have bothered to address the fundamental issue of where this domestic workforce is going to come from.

We are referred to by her as a low skilled, low paid sector - so, who is going to choose it!?

Their narrative is negative, they have chosen not to invest in the sector but actively put pressure on it by taxing it as much as they can through ENIC increases and now raising issues around VAT. Fees paid through Local Authority settlements are not enough to cover any of the additional costs.

Their policy will impact those who need care and support most, as social care lacks the workforce to deliver it.

Nadra Ahmed CBE is the Executive Chairman of the National Care Association.

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