Immigration: The UK care system will collapse without overseas workers
Yvette Cooper’s proposed visa restrictions for care workers dangerously misrepresent a skilled profession that is already in crisis, says Jonathan Byrd
Yvette Cooper’s comments suggesting care workers may face additional visa restrictions as part of a broader effort to reduce so-called “low-skilled” immigration make for troubling reading — not just for those of us in the sector, but for the thousands of vulnerable people we support every day.
To conflate care work with low-skilled labour is a fundamental misreading of both the nature of the job and the vital role overseas workers play in delivering high-quality care across the UK.
It’s not just inaccurate, it’s a disservice to an entire profession that is already, as Care England’s Professor Martin Green rightly put it, “on its knees”.
The private sector as well as the NHS has been struggling due to a chronic shortage of carers, with an estimated 70,000 domestic care workers leaving the sector over the last two years.
Quality training, compassion, intelligence and resilience are attributes that form the backbone of professional carers. Good carers don’t grow on trees.
Quality training, compassion, intelligence and resilience are attributes that form the backbone of professional carers
Our team works with people living with extremely complex conditions such as advanced dementia, Parkinson’s, and those requiring palliative support. Our clients are young and old. Grey hair is not a pre-requisite, sadly, to needing life-enabling care.
This is not a role anyone can walk into. Our carers undergo extensive training, continual development, and deliver outcomes that dramatically improve quality of life for clients and their families.
That’s not low-skilled: that’s highly skilled and deeply human work. The truth, whether the government finds this uncomfortable or not, is that overseas workers are not just filling gaps, they’re keeping the system running.
From live-in carers in the private sector to care assistants in NHS trusts, they are the vital part of the profession, which benefits massively from being hugely diverse – reflecting of course the types of people that need care from all walks of life and backgrounds. In many areas, particularly rural or hard-to-staff areas, we simply would not be able to provide quality, consistent, regulated care without the contribution of overseas workers.
A sector under pressure
The sector is already under enormous pressure, whether that’s increasing demands from an ageing population, the rise in chronic and obesity-related diseases, a long-term domestic workforce shortage, or an enduring lack of parity with the NHS in terms of recognition and funding.
At a time when we should be investing in this essential workforce, tightening the rules on those who choose to come here and care is not just short-sighted – it’s dangerous.
Rather than stigmatising those who dedicate their lives to the wellbeing of others, we should be championing them. We must build a social care system that values skill, welcomes commitment, and recognises the inestimable worth of care work. Visa policy should reflect that reality, rather than undermining it.
The future of care in the UK depends on our ability to attract and retain compassionate, capable professionals, regardless of where they come from. Anything less is a betrayal of the people who need access to high-quality care, be they young or old.
Jonathan Byrd is managing director of The Good Care Group