Angela Rayner has intensified pressure on the Government to reform visa regulations that leave care workers in a state of fear. The former Deputy Prime Minister, who previously worked as a carer, argued that migrant employees are caught in a system where their right to stay in the UK depends entirely on their employer. This dependency, she said, prevents workers from reporting bullying or unsafe conditions due to the threat of deportation.
Rayner's proposals for sector-wide visas
Speaking at a Unison rally on Wednesday, Rayner advocated for sector-wide visas in social care, which would allow staff to change employers without jeopardizing their immigration status. This would reduce the power of individual bosses over workers. She also reiterated her criticism of Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood's plans to make permanent settlement more difficult. Under the proposed changes, health and social care workers who arrived on post-Brexit visas could see the waiting period for indefinite leave to remain (ILR) extended from five to 15 years.
Rayner stated: 'We need to end the exploitation of your visas being tied to a single employer. We need it to be sector-wide, so you can't be exploited, bullied or treated unfairly.' Referring to the ILR changes, she added: 'You came to this country with a promise and an expectation. We should fulfil that promise. We shouldn't be changing the rules halfway, we should accept the promises we made and we should stick to them.'
Call for fair pay agreement
Rayner also urged the Government to implement a fair pay agreement for care workers 'as soon as possible' to improve wages and conditions across the sector. Her comments came as care workers gathered in Westminster to protest the proposed visa changes, which Unison warned would worsen chronic staffing shortages. Unison General Secretary Andrea Egan described the policy as 'cruel' and contrary to British values, emphasizing that staff were recruited on the promise of settlement after five years.
Egan said: 'It's an outrage to change the rules after they've arrived and have devoted themselves to this essential work. The five-year route must remain, and the power of visa sponsorship must be removed from employers. Taking care of carers means fewer people will suffer alone.'
Impact on care sector workforce
Unison reports that migrant workers constitute nearly 30% of the care workforce, while there are approximately 111,000 vacancies in England alone. The union delivered a letter to Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Wednesday highlighting the potential impact of the changes on carers and those they support.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has argued that migrants must 'earn' the right to settle, proposing to extend the ILR qualifying period from five to ten years. The Government claims that without retrospective application, 1.6 million people would gain automatic settlement by 2030. Under current considerations, high earners and NHS staff would be fast-tracked, while lower-paid workers would face longer waits. Volunteering could reduce waiting times, Mahmood has suggested.
A Home Office spokesperson previously stated: 'We will always welcome those that come to this country and contribute to our national life. But the privilege of living here forever should be earned, not automatic. Between 2021 and 2024, this country experienced levels of migration it had historically seen over four decades. We must be honest about the scale and impact of hundreds of thousands of low-skilled migrants getting settlement. The Government will double the route to settlement from five to ten years. As announced in November, we are consulting to apply this change to those in the UK today but have not received settled status. We are currently reviewing the 200,000 responses and will outline our response in due course.'
