𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Labour’s bungled immigration reforms risk making a crisis in social care worse, MPs have warned. An inquiry by MPs found Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood’s plan to make it harder for immigrants to earn UK residency could lead to “increasing vacancies in the social care sector, reducing the availability of care and increasing cost pressures which the Government may need to cover”.

A shortage of social care staff would also increase pressure on the NHS, the Commons Home Affairs Committee warned. But MPs said the Government faced “an extremely difficult choice” because 616,000 immigrants had arrived in the UK between 2022 and 2024 to take up low-paid care worker roles. Many will become eligible for benefits if they receive residency, which will happen soon unless the rules are changed.

In a new report, the committee said there was “a legitimate public interest in responding to the recent high levels of migration”. But it said the Government had failed to consider how care services would be hit.

The MPs said: “We have seen no evidence that there has been genuine join-up with the Department of Health and Social Care – or the social care sector – to ensure that the Home Office’s reforms are designed with an understanding of their impact on the adult social care workforce.”

Under new rules announced by Ms Mahmood, the period many immigrants have to live in the UK before they receive residency, also known as Indefinite Leave to Remain, will double from five years to 10 years. But for people in medium-skilled jobs, which include care workers, it will now take up to 15 years.

The changes have been highly controversial with some Labour MPs who are fighting against the proposals.

Last year 900,000 people had requests for social care turned down, and 40,000 older people every year are forced into selling their homes to pay for the astronomical costs of residential care.