Politics

Government bans overseas care workers from bringing dependants

Home secretary James Cleverly has confirmed that the government has officially banned care workers from bringing dependents as part of their efforts to cut migration.

From March 11, overseas care workers will be stopped from bringing dependants to the UK in a move that has been widely criticised by people across the board.

The current shortage occupation list regime will also be scrapped, meaning employers will no longer be able to fill labour gaps by offering 20 per cent below the going rate for jobs.

A Government spokeswoman said: “Care workers make a vital contribution to society, but immigration is not the long-term answer to our social care needs.

“That is why measures due to be laid in Parliament will cut the rising numbers of visas granted to overseas care workers and address significant concerns about high levels of non-compliance, worker exploitation and abuse within the sector of overseas workers.

“It is also why the Government has announced that providers in England will only be able to sponsor migrant workers if they are undertaking activities regulated by the Care Quality Commission.”

On Sunday, illegal migration minister Michael Tomlinson also announced that asylum seekers will be sent to Kigali “as soon as possible”, as peers in the House of Lords are set to this week again consider the proposed legislation.

“We are taking and introducing the most robust illegal migration legislation that’s ever been put before Parliament,” Mr Tomlinson told the Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips programme on Sky News.

“This is concrete evidence of what we’re doing.

“You’ll see tomorrow that the Rwanda Bill is back in Parliament. It was actually during recess, it was in the House of Lords for two days. It’s back in Parliament tomorrow.

“It’s got another committee day that it’s going through, and we’re making sure that we can bring in the Rwanda plan so that the flights can take off. That is my job. That’s my responsibility.”

No migrants who make unauthorised crossings have been removed because of the legal challenges that resulted in the Supreme Court finding the scheme unlawful.

But the Home Office has identified 33,085 people as eligible for removal since Mr Sunak’s Rwanda policy became law in July under the Illegal Migration Act.

Related: MPs glued to phones in Commons as ministers prepare to ban children from using them in schools

Jack Peat

Jack is a business and economics journalist and the founder of The London Economic (TLE). He has contributed articles to VICE, Huffington Post and Independent and is a published author. Jack read History at the University of Wales, Bangor and has a Masters in Journalism from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

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