New government proposals to ban the recruitment of overseas care workers could have “disastrous” consequences for the nursing home industry, according to a care home manager in Cambridgeshire. Meg Jones, who has managed Rose Lodge Care Home in Wisbech for nearly two decades, fears the proposed changes, aimed at significantly reducing net migration, would create a “large black hole” in staffing.
Speaking to the BBC, Jones estimated that roughly 25% of her current staff are migrant workers, a figure she believes is even higher in other care facilities. “There is some truth to the thought that British people don’t want to work in care, but many British people do want to work in health and social care – just not enough of them,” she explained. She emphasized the demanding nature of the work, requiring a specific type of person dedicated to providing care.
Khaye Rieta, a 22-year-old carer at Rose Lodge originally from the Philippines, echoed this sentiment. “We do care work because we actually do care, you have to have a lot of care courage and you have to be committed to it,” she told the BBC.
Nadra Ahmed, chair of the National Care Association, also voiced serious concerns about the potential impact of the visa restrictions. She stated, “The reality is that we can’t recruit local people to undertake this critical role, so we have had to choose the more costly route of using the foreign visa scheme, which was put in place to tackle the workforce crisis we faced in the sector post Brexit and Covid.” Ahmed warned that without the visa scheme, care homes would be forced to limit their services, potentially leading to closures and impacting the vulnerable individuals they support.
The Department of Health and Social Care, in response to these concerns, stated their commitment to “reduce reliance on international workers in adult social care and boost the recruitment and retention of homegrown talent.” However, industry leaders argue that there are not enough domestic workers to fill the current vacancies, and restricting the flow of overseas staff will only exacerbate the existing workforce crisis.
The situation highlights the critical role that foreign workers play in the UK’s nursing home sector. According to a report by Skills for Care, in the year leading up to March 2023, 16% of the adult social care workforce in England were non-British nationals. This reliance underscores the potential devastation that a ban on overseas recruitment could inflict on the industry’s ability to provide essential care for its residents. The coming months will be crucial in determining the future of workforce policies and their impact on the sustainability of care homes across the nation.