The government has published “radical” plans to change Britain’s immigration system and force employers to provide more training for domestic workers.
However, immigration and employment law experts have warned that the plans to cut overseas care worker recruitment has the potential to “add to the resourcing headache the sector already faces”. Further reforms outlined by the government could deter skilled graduates and other people that could make a positive economic contribution, they added.
But the Home Office said the changes would restore order to a “failed system” that had presided over a fourfold increase in net migration between 2019 and 2023.
Changes outlined in the government’s white paper, titled ‘Restoring Control over the Immigration System’, include raising the skilled worker threshold for people that want to come and work in Britain to RQF 6 (graduate level) and above.
Ministers plan to increase the minimum salaries required for employers to hire people from overseas and abolish the immigration salary list, which gives discounts from salary thresholds.
Workers that enter the country using the points-based immigration system will be limited to applying for occupations where there have been long term shortages. This access will also be time limited and dependent on a decision from the Migration Advisory Committee. Their decision will consider whether there is a workforce strategy in place and whether employers recruiting from abroad are also committed to boosting recruitment from the domestic workforce.
The adult social care sector, which has long relied on overseas workers to plug labour gaps, could be particularly hard hit as the plans will close social care work visas to new applications from abroad. There is some respite for employers in this sector as visa extensions for care workers will be available until 2028. Visa extensions and in-country switching will be allowed for workers already in the country but this will be kept under review.
For international students, the rules governing sponsoring institutions will be tightened. The white paper said there will be “new interventions for sponsors who are close to failing their sponsor duties”, which include placing them on an action plan designed to improve their compliance, and imposing limits on the number of new international students they can recruit while being monitored. Further restrictions on international students mean that they will only be able to stay in the UK for 18 months after they finish their studies.
The crackdown on lower skilled recruitment from overseas is in contrast to the government’s plans to smooth the way for highly skilled people to come and work in Britain. The government said it will increase the number of people arriving via its very high talent routes, alongside faster routes for bringing people to the UK who have the right skills and experience to “supercharge UK growth in strategic industries”.
Places on government schemes for research interns will be increased to make it easier for top scientific and design talent to use the Global Talent visa. The Innovator Founder visa and High Potential Individual route will also be reviewed in a bid to maximise their benefit to the UK economy.
The white paper also highlights plans to bring in new English language requirements across a broader range of immigration routes. This would apply to the main applicants and their dependants.
Changes to the qualifying period for earning standard settlement status are also in the pipeline. The qualifying period for settlement will double to 10 years, while the points-based system that enforces the settlement and citizenship rules will be revised so it is more aligned with how people contribute to the UK.
The swathe of immigration reforms is expected to be delivered during the current parliament, with the government set to introduce the first changes “in the coming weeks”.
Simon Kenny, immigration partner at law firm Spencer West, said: “The government’s intention to reduce net migration is apparent, but I feel restriction of the skilled worker and student immigration categories further will hinder their objective that highly skilled migrants have a positive impact on the labour market.
“Employment-based immigration is highly regulated already, with employers spending many thousands of pounds to ensure skilled workers and global business mobility employees can come to the UK. Severe penalties are imposed if they get this wrong.”
Kenny said that sponsorship outside the health and care worker category is “actually a small percentage of total net migration to the UK” with around 85,000 visas issued in 2024. He said that “restricting this further” may deter workers who could make a positive economic contribution.
“Increasing the qualification period for settlement to ten years is, in my view, likely to deter many graduate-level employees who would otherwise seek to migrate to the UK,” Kenny added.
“I think raising salary thresholds further and increasing the immigration skills charge by 32 percent are likely to be a more significant barrier to sponsorship.”
Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo) general counsel Shazia Imtiaz said: “The UK must be able to compete on a global scale for highly skilled talent in sectors that are struggling with resources, including science, technology and healthcare.
“The focus from the government’s announcement suggests this will be the case through these reforms.”
But Imtiaz said APSCo would review the full scope of the plans to assess whether they are fit for purpose.
She said: “However, as much as we agree that the UK skills market needs to be the focus for government investment, we cannot overlook the critical role that international talent plays in remits that are facing a talent deficit.
“The plan to cut overseas care worker recruitment, for example, has the potential to only add to the resourcing headache the sector already faces unless managed appropriately.
“We are also keen to understand how the Labour Market Evidence Group (LMEG) will operate, and it will be key to ensure that this group, like the government, continues to consult and take feedback from the private sector and those working to fill key roles within it, including APSCo members.”
Ben Willmott, head of public policy at the CIPD, said immigration reforms would need to go “hand in hand with a long-term workforce strategy” to ensure employers can find workers with the skills they need to drive productivity and economic growth.
“This should include an ambitious new skills strategy designed to help address the root causes of skills shortages in the economy,” he said.
“The potential changes announced today would further tighten the rules on the recruitment of overseas workers and leave employers in some sectors such as social care and construction questioning how they will find the workers needed to keep essential services going.
“The idea that employers mainly recruit migrant workers because they don’t want to spend money training UK workers is just wrong. Our research has consistently shown that it’s employers recruiting from overseas that are most likely to be investing in the UK-born workforce, for example through apprenticeships and hiring from disadvantaged groups.”
Willmott said: “We won’t tackle the underlying causes of why employers recruit overseas workers in such numbers until we reform our flawed and underfunded, vocational education and training system and offer better careers guidance to young people. We must also address the collapse in apprenticeships which lies at the heart of many of the skills shortages employers are facing.
“At the same time, sector bodies and employers need to invest in strategic workforce planning and development so they can work more effectively with colleges and other training providers to tackle vocational skills shortages at a sector and regional level.”
