LONDON — Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood told MPs on Monday afternoon that migrant care workers already in Britain will be exempted from the new settlement plans that lengthen the time to qualify for indefinite leave to remain, Personnel Today reported. Care workers who came to the UK after the pandemic but before the original proposals were announced in May 2025 will keep a five-year route to settlement, and the same treatment will apply to public sector workers in education and healthcare, such as auxiliary nurses.
Source: Personnel Today
The change spares around 282,000 people from a longer wait — yaani 2.82 lakh people, made up of about 146,000 care workers and 136,000 dependants — BBC News reported. Under Mahmood's original plan, 799,000 people would have had their settlement delayed; that figure now falls to 517,000. Care workers who met their visa conditions and earned at least £25,000 a year in social care can settle after five years, not 15.
Source: BBC News, via Breaking Brexit News
A second chance for workers caught by rogue sponsors
Care workers who did not fulfil the conditions of their visa — about a quarter of those who came between 2022 and 2025 — will be offered what Mahmood called a 'second chance': they can apply for another five-year Health and Care visa, not tied to their previous employer, and then apply for settlement at the end of it. 'Everyone will have a fair shot to make a contribution and no one will be punished for the sins of their employer,' she said, adding that 1,800 exploitative employers had been stripped of their right to sponsor foreign workers under this government. Mahmood told the Commons that 250,000 people and their dependants came on, or switched into, the care visa between 2022 and 2025, and admitted the route 'was abused' by fraudulent and exploitative companies.
The new ladder: three years at the top, 30 at the bottom
Under the final 'earned settlement' framework, migrants earning over £125,141, or on Global Talent and Innovator Founder visas, can settle after three years. Five years remains for those earning over £50,271, for skilled public service workers such as doctors, nurses and teachers, for refugees arriving on safe and legal routes, and for the protected care workers. Ten years becomes the standard for all other migrants, rising to 20 years for those claiming certain benefits or who have committed a visa offence, and up to 30 years for refugees who arrive by small boat and do not enter work or study. A criminal record, failure to speak English to a high standard, unpaid tax debt or a lack of National Insurance contributions would disqualify an applicant. Mahmood said rights granted under settlement, including access to the NHS and education, should 'not be automatic, it should be earned', and that settled status 'must be earned. Those who contribute most will settle fastest.' The government published its response to the 'Fairer pathway to settlement' consultation alongside the statement; the exercise drew more than 205,000 responses, and most respondents — 84% of individuals and 79% of organisations — disagreed with the proposed changes.
Opposition calls it a U-turn
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp called the announcement a 'U-turn', claimed it could cost taxpayers £10 billion — yaani about £1,000 crore — and said Mahmood had 'dismantled her reputation' as tough on immigration 'in 12 short minutes', adding that the Conservatives would have voted for her previous plans. Reform UK leader Nigel Farage also called it a 'very major U-turn'. Ben Morrin, chief executive of NHS Employers, welcomed the change, saying more than 10,000 current NHS healthcare support workers would now be treated the same as their colleagues, and noting that Mahmood 'has replaced her former policy which would have meant that care workers already in the NHS and social care would have needed to wait 15 years before getting indefinite leave to remain'. Immigration lawyers quoted by Personnel Today warned that the detailed immigration rules, still to come, will decide how the changes work in practice, and that the position of people already approaching the end of a five-year route remains critical.
What happens next — and why it matters to Punjabi and Indian families
Government sources told the BBC there will be no Commons vote: the changes will come in through the immigration rules 'over the course of 2027', and nothing in Monday's statement is law yet — the current five-year rules stay in force until a statement of changes is laid and takes effect. For the large Punjabi and Indian community in Britain, including many who arrived after the pandemic to work in health and social care, the difference is direct: a care worker who arrived before May 2025 and meets the conditions now keeps the five-year path she or he planned around, while most other workers — including many students and lower-paid migrants — face a 10-year wait instead of five. Awaaz Punjab will report the detailed rules when the Home Office publishes them.