UK to End Overseas Recruitment of Healthcare Workers Later This Year: Home Secretary

LONDON May 11: The UK government intends to stop the recruitment of care workers from overseas later this year, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has stated. This policy shift is part of a broader initiative to reduce net migration by tightening visa rules for lower-skilled workers.

Speaking to the BBC, Home Secretay Yvette Cooper confirmed, “It is time to end that care worker recruitment from abroad.” Under the new rules, companies will be required to prioritize hiring British nationals or extending the visas of overseas care workers already residing in the UK.

The government plans to unveil comprehensive changes to visa and recruitment legislation on Monday. These measures are projected to reduce the number of lower-skilled and care workers arriving in the UK by as many as 50,000 over the next year.

This announcement comes against a backdrop of high net migration figures, which peaked at a record 906,000 in June 2023 and stood at 728,000 in the preceding year. Successive governments have faced challenges in their attempts to lower this figure, which represents the difference between immigration and emigration.

While the Home Office has yet to release the specifics of its forthcoming immigration White Paper, due early next week, Cooper indicated the government is “setting up plans for a substantial reduction in net migration.” However, she added that specific targets would not be set, as she believes “they undermined the credibility of anything that governments do.”

Further anticipated changes include raising the salary threshold for skilled visas to a graduate level, an increase from the current A-level equivalent standard. Cooper also mentioned a “narrower” list of exceptions for temporary shortage visas. Currently, roles on the Immigration Salary List (ISL), such as carpenters, graphic designers, and pharmaceutical technicians, allow employers to hire overseas workers at 80% of the market rate. The Home Secretary expects that the combined impact of these various changes will result in “a reduction of up to 50,000 fewer lower skilled visas over the course of the next year.”

Responding to the announcement, Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp described the government’s plans as “too little” and reiterated calls for an annual cap on migration.