𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Britain’s reliance on foreign social care workers has been laid bare by alarming new figures. The number of overseas care workers has rocketed from 215,000 in 2019-20 to 465,000 this year.

And nearly one in four posts has been taken by a non-EU national, figures from Skills for Care revealed. The proportion of British care workers has fallen from 84.6% – 1.18million people – to 1.13million, 70.8% last year. This shows how care firms have become increasingly reliant on foreign workers to plug gaps in their workforces.

The Skills for Care report also revealed that 40,000 migrants began working in the care sector last year after arriving on visas including student visas or family visas.

The Government has previously pledged to “end the reliance on overseas recruitment”, but Skills for Care’s latest report said there must be a focus on “how we attract and keep more people domestically”.

Lucinda Allen, policy fellow at the Health Foundation, said: “Skills for Care’s report shows that challenges recruiting and retaining enough social care workers have eased since peaking in 2021.

“Workers from outside the UK continue to hold up the care system in England. The number of British workers in social care has steadily declined since Brexit and they now represent just 70.8% of roles compared to 84.6% in 2019-20.

“Given government measures to reduce immigration, the shrinking domestic workforce raises serious concerns that care providers could struggle to recruit enough workers in the years ahead.

“Overseas workers are essential to the UK health and care system, but it’s clear that recent international recruitment has not always been ethical.

“Today’s report shows the care sector has recruited heavily from ‘WHO red list’ countries, which face significant shortages of health and care workers.

“Our recent analysis also highlighted that social care workers from outside the UK face particularly high risks of poverty and exploitation.”

Oonagh Smyth, Skills for Care’s chief executive, said while the falling vacancy rate is “encouraging”, the sector “can’t afford to be complacent”.

She said: “We need to protect ourselves from the wild swings in vacancy rates driven by the wider economic picture.

“It’s important to recognise that, while the vacancy rate in social care has reduced, it’s still three times that of the wider economy.”

She urged investment in “stable recruitment and retention” and efforts to make roles “more attractive to the domestic workforce over the long term”, including through development opportunities, improving the quality of roles and supporting positive cultures within organisations.

She added: “We know there’s lots more to do, though. Everyone, from Government to care providers, from regulators to frontline staff, has a role to play in building the workforce we need to deliver the best possible care and support for the people in our communities who draw on local services.”

Care home bosses have been ordered to hire foreign workers already living in the UK before recruiting from overseas.

The Home Office declared employers must show they are not overly reliant on bringing in cheap labour from abroad.

Only then can they offer jobs to migrant workers living overseas.

The Government revoked more than 470 sponsor licences in the care sector between July 2022 and December 2024, amid fears of abuse.

They have been linked to 39,000 foreign workers.

Home Office data show the number of health and care worker visas granted plunged 84% between April and September 2024 – down from 80,541 grants in the same period in 2023.

The Office for National Statistics said net migration to the UK hit 906,000 in the year to June 2023, amid an influx of foreign students, a spike in non-EU workers, particularly in the health and social care sectors and the introduction of the Ukraine and Hong Kong refugee visa schemes.

It fell to 728,000 as reforms to the immigration system began to bite.

In rules which came into effect last week, new applications for care workers and senior care workers under the skilled worker visa were closed, as part of government efforts in “restoring control over the immigration system”.

The latest Skills for Care report said domestic recruitment “remains challenging for the sector” and that the new immigration rules from July “will make it more challenging for the sector to continue to grow in line with demand”.

The organisation restated its previous projection that an extra 470,000 people will need to be employed in the sector by 2040 to meet the needs of a growing older population.

The report said: “A substantial increase in recruitment and retention of staff with a British nationality would likely be required to achieve this level of growth.”

Under the previous Conservative government, a ban on international care workers bringing dependants to the UK led to a sharp drop in health and care visas in the months after the measure came in.

Overall, the number of adult social care posts filled between 2023-24 and 2024-25 rose by 52,000 to 1.6million.

The vacancy rate has also fallen to 7%, with 111,000 vacant posts on any given day in the year to March.

This is down from an 8.3% vacancy rate in the year to March 2024, when there were 126,000 vacant posts on any given day.
The vacancy rate hit a high of 152,000 vacant posts a day in the 12 months to March 2022.