Care homes at risk of closure as new visa rules drive staffing crisis: 'The sector can't function'

An “urgent” staffing crisis could force care homes to close, the government has been warned, as new figures reveal a staggering decline in the number of visas issued to overseas carers.

The number of approved health and care worker visas fell from 121,290 to 89,095 in the year to June 2024, the Home Office has revealed – a decline of more than a quarter. The most significant drop took place after March, when the then-Tory government banned care workers from bringing their spouses and children with them to the UK.

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In the three months to June, visa approvals plunged 81% compared to the same period last year.

The policy shift has had a “huge impact,” said Nadra Ahmed, chair of the National Care Association. “We are really reliant on the international workforce,” she told the Big Issue. “If we can’t get the workforce, care homes simply won’t be able to continue operating. Without a workforce, the sector can’t function.”

The Labour government will not overturn the Conservative-era dependency ban, the Home Office has indicated.  

The social care sector has roughly 130,000 vacancies. The 8.3% vacancy rate is around three times the average for other sectors. But low pay and difficult conditions make it extremely hard to recruit a domestic workforce.

Local authorities – who have had budgets slashed over the past decade – pay for social care.

Earlier this year, the public accounts committee warned of “chronic underfunding, rising waiting lists and patchwork funding” at a council level.

These constraints mean care home staff are often paid minimum wage.

“People don’t want to work in the sector. They can get paid a lot more working in retail and hospitality,” Ahmed explained.

“We need to be able to pay our staff much better. We are looking after people with very complex needs, which is not what we were set up to do. But the funding has just not followed.”

A perceived lack of prestige also hampers recruitment, she added.

“We need to offer people recognised qualifications so that they can feel like professionals – they do an incredibly professional job, yet they are seen as low skilled. Status and value matter, people want to feel fulfilled in the work that they do.”

If the care sector cannot recruit, families end up providing the bulk of care – often at huge personal and financial strain.

More than 1.5 million people in the UK provide more than 50 hours of unpaid care per week.

Labour had promised increase funding to the social care system, introducing an £86,000 cap on the amount an older or disabled person would have to pay towards their support at home or in care homes.

However, Chancellor Rachel Reeves ditched this commitment last month, citing the previous government’s “overspend.”

With almost half a million people on waiting lists for care in residential settings or at home, the need to drive recruitment has never been more urgent.

“We have an ageing population,” Ahmed said. “This crisis is not going anywhere unless someone with guts stops tinkering around the edges and actually makes a positive change. Social care is too important to stay in the ‘too hard basket’”.

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