Recommendation 3

The Home Office opened the Skilled Worker visa route for social care workers quickly and failed to understand the risks. In 2022, the Home Office eased entry requirements for care workers to help the social care sector respond to vacancies created by the COVID-19 pandemic. It moved quickly to expand the Skilled Worker route and did not consider the risks of non-compliance with visa rules. From when the route was expanded in 2022 up to the end of 2024, 648,100 people applied for Health and Care Worker visas, including the dependants of main applicants. The Home Office identified evidence of exploitation of migrant care workers but was 4 initially slow to respond. Since 2023, it has strengthened controls to test the genuineness of applications and increase its compliance activity, which resulted in the approval rate for Health and Care Worker visas decreasing from 99% to 81%. The Home Office acknowledges that the Skilled Worker visa route has not worked well in the care sector and that it could have done more to ensure compliance with visa rules. The government has recently announced the end of overseas recruitment for care workers, as part of its efforts to reduce net migration. We are concerned about the potential impacts of this decision for the sector, which expects demands for social care roles to increase over the next 10 years. However, the forthcoming NHS 10-year plan could address the lack of parity in pay and conditions between the NHS and social care, making it easier to recruit more domestic workers in this sector. recommendation The Home Office and Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) should: • write to the Committee to provide more detail on the decision to end overseas recruitment for care workers, including the expected implications for the sector’s workforce; and • work with DHSC to monitor how the route is being used during the transition period to 2028, and update the Committee on the impacts on the care sector; including the extent to which