New estimate ‘shows scale of exploitation on Wild West care visa route’

An estimate suggesting thousands of care workers have come to the UK in recent years under sponsors whose licences were later revoked is said to demonstrate the exploitation in a “Wild West” system.

The Home Office said more than 470 sponsor licences in the care sector had been revoked between July 2022 and December 2024 in a crackdown on abuse and exploitation.

More than 39,000 workers were associated with those sponsors since October 2020, the department said.

Migrant help charity the Work Rights Centre said the figures are a “shocking revelation of the scale of fraud and exploitation under the sponsorship system”.

The Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford said the care worker visa route was, in 2023, “pretty much the Wild West”.

Its director, Madeleine Sumption, said: “It is clear that exploitative practices were widespread and involved a substantial number of workers.

“What remains to be seen is the extent to which the situation is better controlled now that the Home Office has cracked down and the numbers of care workers being sponsored is much lower.”

The latest figures, published last month, showed the number of visas issued for health and care workers and their families coming to the UK fell from 348,157 in 2023 to 110,833 last year – a decrease of 68%.

The drop is likely to reflect changes in legal migration rules introduced since January 2024 by the previous Conservative government, including a ban on overseas care workers bringing family dependants, and a steep rise in the salary threshold for skilled workers to £38,700.

To qualify for a care worker visa, a person must have a certificate of sponsorship from their employer with information about the role they have been offered in the UK.

If the sponsor loses their licence the certificate is cancelled and the person has limited time to find a new one or leave the UK.

It said care providers must prove they have tried to hire an international worker already in England who is in need of new sponsorship before attempting to take on someone from overseas, in rules coming in from April 9.

The change will help tackle the reliance on overseas recruitment to staff the social care workforce as well as exploitation in the sector, the Home Office said.

The department said it is part of work to ensure high standards across the immigration system and support care workers into alternative jobs if their sponsor has had their licence removed.

Ms Sumption said that while the rule change might help to address exploitation “to some extent”, enforcement could be difficult.

She said: “These policies can be difficult to enforce so the proof will be in the implementation.”

She added that even with more opportunity to find a new job in the sector, care staff on work visas “will likely continue to be vulnerable to exploitation for other reasons, such as debt and difficulties finding a new job if they continue to be employed in poor conditions but have not officially lost their job”.

Dora-Olivia Vicol, chief executive of the Work Rights Centre, said: “Supporting sponsor rematching is a sticking plaster solution to a crisis of national proportions.

“The Government needs to deliver on the promise to investigate and reform the health and care worker visas.”

He added: “Ultimately, the Government should remove visa sponsorship from individual employers and implement a sector-wide scheme.”

Migration and citizenship minister Seema Malhotra said: “We have already taken action to ensure employers are not able to flout the rules with little consequence or exploit international workers for costs they were always supposed to pay.

“We are now going further, requiring employers in England to prioritise recruiting international care workers who are already here and seeking new sponsorship, before recruiting from overseas.”

Care minister Stephen Kinnock said: “As we crack down on shameful rogue operators exploiting overseas workers here in the UK, we must do all we can to get the victims back into rewarding careers in adult social care.

“Prioritising care workers who are already in the UK will get people back to work, reducing our reliance on international recruitment, and make sure our social care sector has the care professionals it needs.”

The Government said minimum salary thresholds will be updated to reflect the latest data from the Office for National Statistics, ensuring those working on the skilled worker visa, including care workers, are paid a minimum of £12.82 per hour.

The Government also announced “tough new rules” on the short-term student route, designed for people studying an English language course in the UK for between six and 11 months.

Amid concerns that the route is being “abused by those without a genuine intention to study or to leave the UK at the end of their course”, the Home Office said expanded powers will be available from April 9 to caseworkers to refuse visa applications which are suspected of not being genuine.