Last Updated on November 24, 2025
Government has announced plans for a new legal migration model which will introduce major changes to the current system. The announcement sets out a contribution-based system in which most migrants will be required to spend ten years in the UK before becoming eligible for settlement. Higher earners and certain priority public service roles may qualify sooner, while low-paid roles are placed in the most restrictive category.
Within this framework, Government has proposed that low-paid occupations, including those across adult social care, will face a fifteen-year baseline before being able to settle. This represents the longest settlement route of any group in the new model. The announcement also positions these changes in the context of the closure of the Health and Care Worker Visa route in May, signalling Government’s intention to significantly reduce future settlement opportunities for the care workforce.
Responding to the announcement, Professor Martin Green OBE, Chief Executive at Care England, said, 'Placing care workers on a 15-year settlement route is a grave injustice to the very people who keep our care system standing. These are the people who care for our parents, our partners, our children; who bring reassurance in moments of deep uncertainty and dignity on the hardest days. To tell them they must wait a decade and a half before they can build any sense of security in this country is indefensible.
'And what makes this worse is that the decision sends a chilling message that the contribution of care workers is valued less than the contribution of others. It is wrong, it is short-sighted, and it reveals a disturbing disconnect from the reality of the workforce crisis the Government claims it wants to solve. These reforms will not address that crisis. They will intensify it. They will push away the dedicated people we rely on most at the very moment the country needs them. Care workers deserve dignity, respect and a fair route to security, not a 15-year barrier and a message that their work somehow matters less.'
Karolina Gerlich, Chief Executive Officer at The Care Workers’ Charity, said, 'These proposals represent a deeply troubling step backwards for migrant care workers. A 15-year wait for stability is not a reasonable settlement pathway; it is unfair and an unnecessary burden. Migrant care workers make an essential contribution to our communities and to the people they support every day. Policies that diminish their security and wellbeing risk undermining the foundations of the entire social care system.'
Nadra Ahmed CBE and Ian Turner OBE, Co-Chairs at National Care Association, said, 'This decision must be challenged because we do not currently have a sustainable domestic workforce or workforce strategy to support those who need care in our country. We would challenge the Home Secretary to deliver 100,000 domestic care workers willing and able to join the social care workforce immediately and a plan to deliver a further 450,000 more over the next eight years.
'Every government has been made aware that in care and health, over generations, there has been a reliance on international recruits to ensure the delivery of care across the country. However, nothing has been done to improve the image to support and attract people towards social care as a career. There has been no thought or investment around professionalisation, accredited training pathways or investment in pay. The only actions taken are punitive and discriminatory.
'However, it does appear that this Government is willing and able to let money talk, by prioritising money over skills and recognised contribution. Perhaps over the next year they can invest in the sector which will not only save the NHS money, and could do so much more, but also contributes £77.8bn to the economy. Creating barriers will impact those we serve and once again this government will have failed them.'
In other news, a new report delivers a ‘must try harder’ verdict from people aged 45+ on Government’s attempts to improve adult social care.