The government has announced sweeping measures to reduce legal immigration to the UK after revised figures for 2022 showed net migration added a record-breaking 745,000 to the UK population.
Addressing the House of Commons, home secretary James Cleverly said the five-point package of measures would reduce immigration by around 300,000, announcing that the annual salary required to receive a UK work visa would increase from £26,200 to £38,700 – nearly £4,000 higher than the UK’s median salary.
Those people coming on health and care visas will be exempt, but they will no longer be able to bring dependents with them. In the year to September 2023, the Home Office said 101,000 health and care visas were issued to care workers, with an estimated 120,000 visas granted to associated dependants, the majority of whom the government estimates do not work but still use public services.
The government said it would also scrap the 20% salary discount on shortage occupations and replace the Shortage Occupation List with a new “Immigration Salary List”, which will retain “a general threshold discount”.
The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) will review the new list against the increased salary thresholds and reduce the number of occupations on the list.
Cleverly also announced that the minimum income for family visas will rise to the same level as for skilled workers, £38,700, and that the immigration health surcharge would increase by 66% from £624 to £1,035. Cleverly said this will raise around £1.3 billion yearly for the health service.
He said the government will end the abuse of the health and care visa. “We will stop overseas care workers from bringing family dependants and we will require care firms in England to be regulated by the Care Quality Commission in order for them to sponsor visas.”
Work visa salaries
Cleverly added that the new measures will come into force in spring 2024. However, the immigration health surcharge changes on 16 January 2024.
“These measures are possible because we are building up our domestic workforce and supporting British workers… Our back-to-work plan will help people stay healthy, get off benefits and move into sustainable employment,” he said.
Cleverly said: “This package of measures, taken in addition with the measures on student dependants that we announced in May, means that around 300,000 people who were eligible to come to the UK last year would not be able to in future, the largest reduction on record. Enough is enough. Immigration policy must be fair, legal and sustainable.”
Yvette Cooper, shadow home secretary, said the new government proposals are “an admission of years of total failure by this Conservative government”.
She said: “Who does the home secretary think has been in charge for the past 13 years? More chaos, more veering all over the place. Net migration should come down. Labour has called for an end to the 20% unfair discount, for increased salary thresholds to prevent exploitation and for the inclusion of advice from a strengthened MAC.
“Most of all, we have called for a proper plan, with clear links between the immigration system, training and the economy, and workforce plans, none of which are in the statement, because the Government have no grip and no proper plan. This is a chaotic approach.”
‘Deep concern’
Danny Mortimer, chief executive of NHS Employers, said the government announcement will cause “deep concern” across social care and health.
“Whilst there is recognition that social care and health staff should be exempted from visa earning requirements applied to the wider economy,” he said, “the move to prevent workers bringing dependants will be met with real dismay.
“The Prime Minister and home secretary have at a stroke made the UK a less attractive place for much needed social care and health staff weighing up where they might choose to work. Their actions make the job of caring for the most vulnerable members of society that bit harder, and in doing so they again underestimate the value of good care services to the economy as a whole.
While firms have to pay the price, the government chooses to exempt itself from the new threshold. One rule for business, another for the public sector in health and care will not go down well with those in industry“ – Neil Carberry, REC
“The government must fully disclose its calculations on how these changes to visa rules will impact recruitment levels and waiting times across both social care and health.”
Christina McAnea, general secretary of Unison, agreed, saying: “These cruel plans spell total disaster for the NHS and social care. They benefit no one. Migrant workers were encouraged to come here because both sectors are critically short of staff. Hospitals and care homes simply couldn’t function without them.
“There’s also a global shortage of healthcare staff. Migrants will now head to more welcoming countries, rather than be forced to live without their families. The government is playing roulette with essential services just to placate its backbenchers and the far right. But if ministers stopped ducking the difficult issues, and reformed social care as they’ve long promised, there wouldn’t be such a shortage of workers.”
‘Wholly disproportionate’
Five-point plan to curb immigration
- Health and care immigrants unable to bring dependents, and immigration health surcharge raised from £624 to £1,035
- Work visa salary threshold increases by 48% from £26,200 to £38,700
- Shortage occupations’ 20% discount on the going rate is scrapped
- Minimum income for family visas raised from £18,600 to £38,700
- MAC to review the graduate route to prevent abuse.
Neil Carberry, chief executive of the Recruitment and Employment Confederation, said: “These changes will send the wrong signal around the world. They are wholly disproportionate, given that immigration for work in the private sector is such a small part of total immigration.
“From world-leading universities to globally competitive firms, attracting people to the UK for work and study is a benefit to growth and prosperity here. And it helps to solve shortages – as the government must know, given that health and social care are the heaviest users of our expensive work visa system.
“But while firms have to pay the price, the government chooses to exempt itself from the new threshold. One rule for business, another for the public sector in health and care will not go down well with those in industry.
“It is time for politicians to be more open about these trade-offs. Given the recent trend in wages, some uprating of the salary threshold would have been sensible – but such a large rise is likely to negatively affect smaller firms and those in regions farther from London. While many roles we have shortages in are driven by labour availability, the UK also has significant skills shortages. This news also underpins again the government’s serial failure to address the skills system despite half a decade of business feedback about the failed apprenticeship levy and the underfunding of further education.”
Emily Warman, employment solicitor at Square One Law, said: “Employers looking to sponsor skilled workers will want to get these applications in sooner rather than later to avoid the increase in the minimum salary threshold.
“People now wanting a skilled worker visa will have to earn £38,700, up from the previous level of £26,200. This is almost £4,000 more than the average salary of a full-time UK worker, which is currently £34,963.”
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