Foreign worker ban could shut care homes, says boss

A ban on hiring foreign workers could lead to care homes closing, a care boss has warned.

Raj Sehgal, who runs six homes in Norfolk, said his firm was "exceptionally reliant" on foreign recruits because of a shortage of local people willing to work in care.

The government introduced the ban last summer as part of its plan to cut net migration.

But Sehgal, who is also on the board of the National Care Association (NCA), said recruitment problems combined with rising costs were causing serious problems for a struggling industry.

Last year, then-Home Secretary Yvette Cooper promised a crackdown on visas for lower skilled workers and that it was "time to end care worker recruitment from abroad".

Instead firms would have to extend visas of overseas workers already in the country or hire UK nationals.

While vacancy rates across UK adult social care fell to 111,000 in March 2025 from 126,000 the year before, the decision was not welcomed at the time with the NCA warning a challenging situation for homes would become "worse".

Sehgal said many British people were not keen to work in care, and recruitment was particularly tough in a rural county such as Norfolk.

High house prices had also contributed to a smaller pool of workers, he warned, with local people "being driven out… to more urban areas".

Sehgal said his company Armscare was "exceptionally reliant on our international recruits".

He said the ban was likely to "help to shut services down because they can't employ people".

One of Sehgal's staff, Alamin Mia from Bangladesh, said he felt foreign workers were being unfairly singled out by government policy.

Having completed a masters degree in business management in the UK he began working in care as it was a way to get a sponsored visa, allowing him to stay in the country longer.

He is now employed at Docking House, a 39-bed home in the village of Docking.

Describing it as a "challenging sector" to work in he said it was also "life-changing [as] you are helping other people".

Living nearby in Hunstanton with his wife – who works at a local pharmacy – he said he was hoping to become a British citizen, but was uncertain whether he would be able to extend his visa in two years' time.

"We are the working class people. We are paying taxes. But whenever there is some pressure on government about immigration, the government is trying to cut us," he said.

Docking House's assistant manager Melanie Baldwin said she had worked in care for 17 years, but the relatively low pay offered by the sector often put people off as "most care jobs are minimum wage", which is currently £12.71 an hour for over 21s.

"I could earn more money cleaning, but that's not what I want to do, that's not why I'm in care. But for young people nowadays, there is no incentive," she said.

She added that she did not "think the home itself would be able to run" without foreign workers.

"We only have one local carer at the moment - everybody else is from overseas."

A spokeswoman for the Home Office said it had "ended overseas recruitment to reduce reliance on international care workers and to focus on strengthening domestic recruitment and retention".

She added the rule changes "do not prevent highly skilled international healthcare professionals from pursuing their careers here".

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