Senior Whitehall sources confirmed on 24 July that Prime Minister Andy Burnham and Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood are examining a carve-out for care-sector staff from the forthcoming overhaul of the UK’s immigration system. Under proposals set out in June, the qualifying period for Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) will double—from five to ten years—for most temporary work routes, including the Health & Care Worker visa. Sector bodies warned that the change would accelerate attrition in a workforce already short of 165,000 roles. Ministers are now exploring grandfathering provisions that would allow the roughly 200,000 overseas care workers already in the UK—and their eligible dependants—to remain on the existing five-year pathway to settlement. Officials say the aim is to give social-care providers breathing space while a separate recruitment and training strategy for domestic workers beds in. A decision is expected before Parliament rises for its summer recess on 31 July. If adopted, the exemption would mark the first major modification to Mahmood’s “balanced-control” reforms, signalling that the new Labour government is willing to fine-tune headline migration pledges where critical services are at risk. Business-immigration advisers note that a targeted ILR concession would also reduce the risk of large-scale sponsor-licence defections; care-home operators told MPs that many staff had already begun exploring jobs in Canada and Australia, where permanent-residence timelines are shorter. For multinational employers seconding staff into the NHS supply chain or outsourcing clinical services, retaining experienced carers is essential to avoid service-level penalties. HR directors should monitor draft Immigration Rules—likely to be laid in September—and update assignment cost models, as visa-extension fees and Immigration Health Surcharge liabilities could diverge between exempt and non-exempt cohorts. Unison and the Care Provider Alliance welcomed the mooted climb-down but warned that without parallel action on pay and working conditions the UK will remain reliant on migrant labour. They urged the Treasury to ring-fence £1.6 billion a year for social-care wage uplifts—funding that would also help close the gap with the new Skilled Worker salary floor of £41,700 introduced in April.
Source: The Guardian
