Migration change 'could see care homes lose staff'

Simon Patient said the changes could make it harder to find overseas staff for the firm's five care homes

The boss of five care homes has warned some of their overseas staff may return to their countries after a government announcement this week over reducing legal migration.

Ministers announced on Tuesday plans to stop overseas care workers from bringing their families with them to the UK.

Some staff at their care homes in Worcestershire and Herefordshire were still waiting for family members to join them, Simon Patient, from Heritage Manor Ltd, said.

The Home Office said the new measures would "end the high numbers of dependants coming to the UK".

Mr Patient said they have about 30 staff on visas which made up about 10% of his workforce.

Most of them have family members who have come over with them, he said.

"[The changes] will make it much harder to recruit from overseas," Mr Patient said.

"We have staff already in this country who are looking to bring over dependents and there's a risk they may actually leave the country as a result."

Recruiting from abroad was not an easy option, he added and said the firm were "unable to recruit locally".

Conservative MP Wendy Morton said the government had to take action to tackle migration

The Conservative MP for Aldridge-Brownhills, Wendy Morton, said the government had to tackle migration and try to get more local people to fill such positions.

"Some of it is looking at the skills gaps we have and developing people's skills to fill those so there is no silver bullet to this," she added.

The government had "lost control of the borders", Labour council leader Shaun Davies said

But the Labour leader of Telford and Wrekin Council, Shaun Davies, said the government had "lost control of the borders".

"We think we need to get migration down and that's got to be the plan for the next Labour government," he added.

In the year up to September 2023, 100,000 health and care worker visas were issued with an estimated 120,000 visas granted to associated dependants, a Home Office spokesperson said.

"The majority of whom we estimate don’t work, but still make use of public services," they added.