Permission for judicial review granted challenging rule preventing care workers bringing children, partners

LONDON Nov 11: A legal challenge against the UK government’s recent changes to immigration rules has been granted permission for judicial review. The changes, which came into effect on 11 March 2024, prevent care workers from bringing their children and partners to the UK.

The judicial review will examine the lawfulness of these changes and their impact on the rights of care workers and their families. The challenge is being brought by an organization that supports migrant workers, and it argues that the new policy is unfair and discriminatory, and that it will have a detrimental effect on the ability of care workers to do their jobs effectively.

The government has defended the changes, stating that they are necessary to control immigration numbers and protect the UK’s public services. However, the decision to grant permission for judicial review indicates that there are significant concerns about the legality and fairness of the new rules.

NEWS. Permission for judicial review granted to our client challenging the change in the Immigration Rules, which prevents care workers from coming to the UK with their children and partners.

— DuncanLewisPublicLaw (@DLPublicLaw) November 11, 2024

It was Migrants at Work, an organisation that supports migrant workers had launched a legal challenge against the government’s new policy to bar care workers from bringing children and partners to the UK, warning that it is “tearing families apart”.

According to Migrants at Work, care workers have to choose between family life with their children and partners or getting a job as a health or social carer in the UK – they can no longer do both.

According to Migrants at Work, care workers have to choose between family life with their children and partners or getting a job as a health or social carer in the UK – they can no longer do both.

The controversial policy, which took effect in March 2024, has been introduced at a time when the vacancy rate in the adult social care workforce was at almost 10%.

The then home secretary, James Cleverly, said the changes had been made to tighten up high levels of non-compliance as well as exploitation and abuse in the care sector.

The legal action argues that the policy is discriminatory on various grounds including sex, race and is in breach of the public sector equality duty. It claims the home secretary has failed to take into account the needs of care sector workers.

Aké Achi, the founding chief executive of Migrants at Work, said: “The Home Office’s changes to the health and social care visa will further exacerbate the staff shortages in the adult social care workforce.

“On top of this, carers who want to come to the UK are now facing an invidious choice: either they take up a job that will contribute to the delivery of social care at a time of crisis in the UK, or they continue living with their children and partners.

“The new rules will not allow them to do both. We have also seen cases where prospective care workers have been told they have to leave the UK since the new rules have come in, on the basis that their children are not permitted to stay in the UK as their dependants. The new rules are already tearing families apart and the impact on the wider care sector will be disastrous.”

Jeremy Bloom, a solicitor at Duncan Lewis, representing Migrants at Work, said the Home Office still had an opportunity to ditch the new rules and save on the expense of litigation.

He added: “We haven’t seen any evidence that the Home Office has properly considered the impact that this will have on people coming to the UK on health and social care visas, on the vulnerable individuals who need access to social care, or on the wider system of social care.”

He accused the home secretary of ignoring the impact this would have on staff shortages in the social care sector.

“The secretary of state is clear that a full impact assessment was not carried out prior to the introduction of the policy, which raises very serious concerns about whether he has complied with the public sector equality duty.”

A government spokesperson said: “Care workers make a vital contribution to society, but immigration is not the long-term answer to our social care needs. An estimated 120,000 dependants accompanied 100,000 care workers in the year ending September 2023. These numbers are unsustainable, which is why reforms are now in place restricting care workers from bringing dependants with them”.