Why the UK relies on migrants from Africa to fill vital care sector jobs?

The number of migrants from African countries entering the UK to work in the care sector has almost tripled over the last year after visa procedures were amended to address labour shortages following the coronavirus pandemic and the impact of Brexit.

The UK care industry, which includes facilities to look after a growing elderly population, has come to rely on migrant workers because they are willing to work on lower wages, officials say.

The average hourly pay for care workers in the UK is 10.34 pounds ($13.23), among the lowest-paid in Britain.

But the British government is making it harder for migrant caregivers to work in the country with its latest move that bars a worker from bringing a dependent to the UK.

Skills For Care, a charity that handles workforce development and planning in adult social care, says the industry faces difficulties in finding workers.

"The population aged 65 and over was projected to increase between 2020 and 2035 from 10.5 million to 13.8 million people in England, an increase of around 32%. This poses potential challenges for the adult social care sector and workforce," it said.

Most of the migrants in the care industry are arriving from countries like Nigeria, Ghana, Zimbabwe and Kenya that are facing difficulty in creating well-paying jobs for the young people.

Last year, around 57,000 people from African countries entered the UK on Health and Care visas, a rise from over 20,000 in 2022.

On Monday, the UK's Home Office announced, "From today, care workers entering the UK on Health and Care Worker visas can no longer bring dependents."

The UK's ministerial department responsible for immigration, security, and law and order described it as "part of our plan to deliver the biggest ever cut in migration," which was met with some strong pushback online.

The Home Office said the amendments are to "radically cut net migration and tackle visa", which will lower "unsustainable levels of legal migration."

In an election year, migration has been described as high on the "political" agenda as officials have spoken out.

The Home Secretary James Cleverly said the measure means the UK is "delivering on our plan for the biggest-ever cut in migration."

He added, "Overseas care workers brought an estimated 120,000 dependents to the UK in the year ending Sep 23."

Exploitation

Another issue the government is reportedly attempting to clamp down on is the potential abuse caregivers.

According to UnseenUK, an anti-slavery charity, the care sector has been described as "susceptible to worker exploitation and modern slavery."

"Many people providing their labour in the sector receive low pay and the work is considered low-skilled. Due to the transient nature of the workforce and the historic reliance on migrant workers, current labour shortages have created a further opportunity for workers to be exploited," it said.

In 2022, more than 100 cases of modern slavery were said to involve carers, equating to around 10 percent of the cases, pushing the government to reportedly action.

The Care Quality Commission previously told UK MPs that restrictions on free movement of workers from the EU after Brexit has contributed towards slavery becoming "a feature" of the care sector.

"Where you have got a situation where you are dependent on a visa and you are then dependent on an employer the possibility for exploitation then increases significantly. I don’t think it is widespread or endemic but I do think it is becoming more common," said James Bullion, chief inspector of adult social care and integrated care.

Reportedly, some scammers have targeted the system amid allegations of "modern slavery."

However, as UK authorities clamp down on migration, some reports forecast that migrant workers will now look to other Western nations, including the US, Australia and Canada, which also need skilled care workers.

In 2021, a year after the UK left the European Union, reports described a "torrent of complaints" concerning labour shortages across various industries.

At the time, care workers were added to the list of professions to be granted visas, helping to fill the void in the industry where reportedly thousands of migrants, largely from Africa, came to the UK in a bid to "fill the one in 10 care worker jobs vacant after the Covid crisis."