Professor Nicola Ranger, head of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), has made a final appeal to the Government to withdraw immigration reforms for care workers that she describes as "illogical and unfair."
In a plea directed at Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, Professor Ranger called for the scrapping of changes to settlement rules that would require overseas care workers to wait 15 years before qualifying for indefinite leave to remain (ILR) — three times the current period. The proposal would apply to those already in the UK, prompting widespread criticism.
Concerns over 'betrayal' of migrant staff
Writing for The Mirror, Professor Ranger said: "In 2020, as Chief Nurse at King's College Hospital, I worked alongside hundreds of migrant nursing staff who sacrificed so much to help the Covid-19 response. I know so many did the same in social care."
She added: "That only a few years later a Labour government is set to betray those very same migrant nursing staff is deeply upsetting and the reforms are clearly unfair."
She warned that extending the wait for settlement could lead to an exodus from the overstretched sector.
Plans for earned settlement
The Home Secretary is expected to announce her final decision this week, with speculation that she may exempt care workers from the longer wait. Most other workers would likely need to live and work in the UK for 10 years before becoming eligible for permanent settlement.
Ms Mahmood is considering a broader overhaul of migration and asylum rules. Last November she set out a system of earned settlement, warning that failure to get a grip on immigration could help pave the way for a Nigel Farage government. Her proposals would double the standard time to qualify for ILR to 10 years, although high earners and NHS staff are among groups with much shorter waits. Care workers would qualify after 15 years, but this could be reduced by doing volunteer work in their communities.
Angela Rayner has previously branded the proposals "un-British," and Ms Mahmood faces calls to water down plans to change rules for people already in the country. The Home Secretary has said that unless the rules change, 1.6 million people will be eligible for settlement — and therefore access to public services and funds — by 2029.
Reaction and next steps
More than 200,000 responses were received to a consultation on the proposals. Professor Ranger has warned that unless an exemption is made for care workers, Andy Burnham's ambition of creating a National Care Service will be impossible.
At a protest outside the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool, care worker Barbara Tanyanyiwa told The Mirror: "They promised us five years, so we want them to keep the promise. We want Shabana Mahmood to keep the promise, we do not want them to change the goalposts when we are already at the doorstep."
Under current rules, people who come to the UK on a health and social care visa are unable to work in other sectors. Home Office minister Jo White told a fringe event at the party conference in October that many may leave care work once they are granted ILR. She said: "We have, rather than looked to see where our skills gaps are, we've constantly imported from abroad and this is why we're in this situation and why we've got a crisis in the care sector." She added: "I don't want us to get into that spiral where people move out of the care sector because they've got leave to remain. And this is what we hear from people coming from other countries, that they're here to work, but they then want to go on to other things."
A Home Office spokesperson said: "This Government has announced reforms that mean settlement must be earned and not automatic. We are currently considering responses to our consultation on elements of these reforms."
