The UK’s new rules would punish the migrant care workers who keep the country alive

Hatred and cruelty are increasingly being spewed towards migrants in the UK, but the truth is, the country cannot function without them. More than one in five NHS staff are migrants. The same is true across social care. And in London, migrants make up nearly half the workforce.

Yet instead of being valued, migrant care workers are being scapegoated by politicians.

The most recent attack on the rights and protections for migrant workers is by the Labour government’s proposed changes to “earned settlement” rules. The reforms would force many low-paid migrant workers to wait 15 years before qualifying for indefinite leave to remain, instead of the five years they were promised when they moved to the UK.

A system that breeds exploitation

For years, migrant care workers have been tied to employer-sponsored visas—a system that creates a dangerous power imbalance and leaves workers vulnerable to exploitation. Andrea Egan, the general secretary of Unison, condemns the policy in an article written for  The Guardian, stating:

These changes would entrench and worsen the environment of fear and exploitation that defines the current system. This is nothing less than a full-frontal attack on migrant workers and a wrecking ball for public services from a government that should be standing up for both.

One migrant care worker from India explained that the threats were constant. “Every conversation with the managers feels threatening, and often ends with the word ‘visa’.”

Another worker described the psychological toll:

We cannot continue to work under these kinds of pressures. It is emotionally draining and mentally exhausting. You lose yourself. Fear becomes your shadow.

Politicians often dismiss these abuses as the work of a few “bad apple” employers. But insecure work, zero-hour contracts, illegal underpayment, and exploitative practices are endemic across the care sector. When a worker’s right to remain in the country depends entirely on their employer, the threat of deportation becomes a weapon of control.

As Egan states bluntly:

I don’t say it lightly, but the sponsorship system has effectively made modern slavery a structural feature of our care system.

Punishing the very workers holding the system together

Instead of dismantling this exploitative structure, the government is proposing to entrench it. Workers who believed they were only months away from security and stability could now face another decade trapped in precarity.

This is not just cruel—it is hypocritical. The proposals reportedly create faster routes to settlement for high earners, while forcing lower-paid workers to wait longer. The message is clear: some lives are valued more than others.

Meanwhile, the care system itself is in crisis. The charity Age UK estimates that 2 million older people have unmet care needs, and up to 1.5 million working-age people with disabilities are not receiving the support they are entitled to. Vacancy rates are among the highest of any sector, with nearly a quarter of staff leaving each year. This comes as no surprise given that on top of poverty wages, the government seems determined to make the environment for migrant workers as hostile as possible.

Extending the path to settlement will not fix the crisis. It will deepen exploitation, fuel fear, and push more workers out of a system already crumbling under pressure.

Take action

Migration policies that trap workers in dependency are not anti-trafficking. They create the very conditions in which exploitation flourishes. And the “earned settlement” proposal is no different.

Add your voice and call for genuine anti-trafficking migration policies that end visa-tied exploitation, guarantee safe reporting of abuse, and value care workers for the essential role they play.