The leader of Reform UK-controlled Kent County Council has urged the Government to rethink its plans to reduce health and social care visas to the UK.
Council leader Linden Kemkaran has written to Home Secretary Yvette Cooper and Minister for Care Stephen Kinnock to raise ‘grave concerns’ about 'unsustainable' proposals in the new Immigration Bill.
Co-signed by cabinet member for adult social care, Diane Morton, the letter highlights in particular plans to close the Social Care Worker Visa route to overseas recruitment for new applicants from 22 July 2025.
‘Paired with the changes announced in the Autumn Budget in 2024 that resulted in changes to employer National Insurance contributions from April 2025, this is totally unsustainable, and the risk is that many care workers at this level will go home and leave providers on a cliff edge,’ the letter says.
It concludes: ‘[D]ue to the challenges facing the adult social care system in general, and care providers in particular, we urge you to reconsider these changes and look forward to your support in addressing these urgent pressing matters.’
To learn more about Reform UK, check out: Reform UK: What Britain’s fastest rising party stands for and Reform UK’s ‘Doge’ witch-hunts will achieve little.
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