The government has announced new plans to reduce net migration, mainly aiming to achieve this by separating families. The 5-point plan is due to come into force in spring 2024. It will mean that around 300,000 fewer people will be eligible to come to the UK than last year, the largest reduction on record.
1. People on health and care visas will no longer be able to bring family dependants and care firms must be regulated by the Care Quality Commission to sponsor workers.
This has been met with criticism by those in the care sector as they worry that preventing foreign care workers from bringing their families, means they will not come at all. This could be catastrophic to the health sector as immigrants provide a ‘critical contribution’ to the workforce. Any reduction in the health sector workforce could potentially lead to care homes closing and a severe reduction in people who can access at-home care.
The Home Secretary rebuts these concerns by claiming that the government does not envisage a reduction in the number of people working in the care sector, but instead a reduction in the number of people coming with those workers. He claims the inevitable strain on the NHS will be justified by the increase in the annual immigration health surcharge from £624 to £1,035, to raise on average £1.3 billion for the health services of this country every year.
this sector is heavily populated by those who have travelled from the Philippines which means, despite the Home Secretary’s protests that this is not the case, many will be forced to leave their dependants thousands of miles away.
Professor Martin Green:
“If the government now wants to move away from international recruitment as the solution to fixing the social care workforce crisis, it must act swiftly and invest in improving the pay and conditions to drive domestic recruitment.”
2. The skilled worker salary threshold will be increased by a third from £26,200 to £38,700
This provision was introduced with the aim of ‘encouraging businesses to look to British talent first and invest in their workforce + deter employers from over-relying on migration’. Considering this is More than the current median average salary of a full-time UK worker, which sits at £34,963, It seems inherently discriminatory.
However, health and social care visas will be exempt, to meet NHS staffing needs.
3. Ending the 20% salary discount for roles on the Shortage Occupation List and reforming the list.
The Migration Advisory Committee have been asked to review the occupations on the list in light of the new higher-skilled worker salary threshold. A new immigration salary list with a reduced number of occupations will be published in coordination with the MAC.
4. The minimum income requirement for family visas for British citizens and those settled here will also be raised to £38,700.
The new requirement is more than double the family income threshold. It reinforces that all those who want to work and live here must be able to support themselves, contribute to the economy, and not burdening the state.
5. The Home Secretary has asked the MAC to review the graduate route to “prevent abuse and to protect the integrity and quality” of the higher education sector
The government has already banned overseas master’s students from bringing family members to the UK.
The question is: can British employers recruit enough from our population without paying people more and pushing up prices?
