Care workers like me aren't low skilled – these immigration rules will risk livesKarolina Gerlich

The proposed salary requirements for non-English workers will cripple the care industry. The consequences could be terrifying

Thu 20 Feb 2020 

Care workers are skilled professionals. 

Photograph: Realimage/Alamy Stock Photo


I’ve been a full-time care worker in this country for eight years. People’s wellbeing is at the heart of what I do. I have the privilege of supporting some amazing people and their families, using a wide range of clinical, emotional and academic skills.

But under the new immigration rules proposed by the government, I would not have been able to enter the country 12 years ago. I came to the UK when I was 18 and began working part-time in care, while also working in hospitality and manufacturing. With no job offer or degree, and little certainty my English qualifications would count, I would not have had the necessary 70 points.

Social care leaders criticise plans for immigration salary threshold

The government says we are “unskilled”, but one thing I know for sure is that care work is highly skilled. It is unacceptable that the government does not understand what social care is and what we, as care workers, do every day.

We are responsible for peoples’ lives, mobility, medication, and diet; we manage catheters, PEG feeds, stoma bags, and hoists, and collaborate closely with many other professionals. Our jobs and responsibilities are complex and they require diligence, insight, and attention to detail.

The new regulations confuse, wrongly, low pay with low skill. Many low-paid jobs require a high level of skill. In fact, the distinction between skilled and unskilled seems archaic, and more related to academic and non-academic training. Most care workers are required to undertake training before they can start a job, and continue training throughout their working lives. Many also have degrees. We choose to work in care because we want to make a difference in peoples’ lives, not because we are stupid or incapable of doing anything else.

Decades of neglect and underfunding from the central government have driven average care worker salaries to between £16,200 and £19,500, for local authorities and the independent sector respectively. With a minimum threshold of £23,040 for points due to salary, most jobs in the sector will count for nothing. The government’s call for employees to simply pay workers more is unfeasible; many providers, already wanting and willing to increase the pay they offer, will just not be able to as the government is not putting the funding into social care in the first place.

For social care, the blow from the immigration policy will pile on to an industry crippled by a turnover of 30.8%, and 122,000 vacancies in England alone. The potential consequences are terrifying; the unmet need, already at 1.4 million people, will only increase, and peoples’ wellbeing and lives will be at risk.

I urge the government to put care workers on the skills shortage list. I strongly recommend that by better funding the sector and ensuring that there are enough care workers to support everybody in need, they do what is right for the country, and secure their own care and support in the years to come.