Mahmood Scraps Settlement Plans for Migrant Care Workers

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has scrapped plans to make foreign care workers already in the UK wait 15 years to qualify for permanent settlement.

Mahmood had proposed doubling the wait for indefinite leave to remain (ILR) from five years to 10 for most migrants, with some facing a 15-year wait.

But following a backlash from several Labour MPs, Mahmood revised the policy and care workers who earn at least £25,000 a year and arrived in the UK before May 2025 would continue to qualify after five years.

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ILR, also known as settlement, gives a person the right to live, work and study in the UK for as long as they like and apply for benefits if they are eligible. They can also use it to apply for British citizenship.

Last November, Mahmood announced plans to delay settlements in response to concerns over the number of people approaching eligibility, in the wake of record post-Brexit net migration figures under the previous Conservative government, nicknamed the “Boriswave”.

Asked by the BBC whether she had u-turned on her earlier promises, she replied “I don’t accept that”, adding that some 500,000 people in the UK “will not now settle at five years”.

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When she put forward the original plans in March, the Home Office used data from the committee which advises ministers on migration to forecast that the existing rules would cost £4.2bn. This was the estimated lifetime cost of the 117,000 foreign care workers expected to settle in the UK from 2026-2030. It estimated this would rise to £9.5bn once their adult dependants were factored in.

Mahmood told the BBC updated plans would save “billions”, partly because workers in other sectors will still have to wait longer, but said an impact assessment detailing the cost would be released in a future announcement.

She also declined to outline whether Prime Minister Andy Burnham had told her to change tack on her proposals, which she had put forward under his predecessor Sir Keir Starmer, saying a consultation had resulted in a fair settlement.

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The Home Office has said its figures show net migration – the difference between those entering and leaving the country – added 2.6m people to the UK population between 2021 and 2024.

The department estimates that between 2026 and 2030 between 1.3m and 2.2m people will settle in the UK, adding its central estimate has increased to 1.9m.

The home secretary faced criticism for proposing to apply the changes to migrant workers already in the UK, with Housing Secretary Angela Rayner previously saying this would “change the goalposts”.

Several Labour MPs also described the retrospective approach as “un-British” and warned it could worsen the UK’s skills shortage, particularly in the care sector.

Making a statement to the House of Commons, Mahmood said settlement “should not be automatic, it should be earned”.

The changes will move those earning less than £50,000 a year onto a 10-year path to settlement status, unless they are exempt.

Mahmood also told MPs the government would provide a five-year path to settlement for care workers who “answered our call when we needed them” following the Covid-19 pandemic.

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