Policy paper

The Home Office response to the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration’s report: An inspection of the immigration system as it relates to the social care sector

Published 26 March 2024

This was published under the 2022 to 2024 Sunak Conservative government

The Home Office response to the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration’s report: An inspection of the immigration system as it relates to the social care sector.

August to November 2023.

The Home Office worked closely with the former Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration (ICIBI) on their inspection of the UK immigration system and how it relates to the social care sector report, and we are grateful for their efforts. However, there are some within the inspection report which we would like to correct. We would also like to highlight the work undertaken by the department to tackle abuse within the sector.

The government agreed to implement the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) recommendation in February 2022 to allow those working in social care to use the immigration system, this was due to compelling evidence from the committee on the short term need to provide an immigration response to fill roles that were deemed to be in significant shortage.

This work was undertaken during a time when the department was under immense pressure coordinating large scale resettlement efforts for Ukrainians who had been displaced due to the Russian invasion of the same year.

Our response to this humanitarian crisis, which saved countless lives, meant that it took priority over the implementation of the care route. When resourcing allowed, work began at an early stage to support the sector in transitioning to using the Health and Care Visa. This allowed migrant workers to fill the reported 160,000 vacancies in the sector and meet the objectives of the Department of Health and Social Care in using care facilities to facilitate the discharge of individuals from NHS wards to ease winter pressures.

Unfortunately, some bodies operating within the adult social care sector, or masquerading as doing so, abused this opportunity. The Home Office identified these abusive practices at the earliest opportunity despite the operational focus on the Ukrainian response, commissioning focussed compliance activity as early as June 2022.

The government has, and will continue to, implement robust measures to stem non-compliance. As with all our policies, we will keep them under close review and if needed, we will not hesitate to go further.

Points of clarification

We have concerns regarding the reference within the foreword in this report to another inspection (An Inspection of Illegal Working Enforcement) where care visa holders are purported to have been encountered working illegally in 2 of 8 visits conducted as part of the Inspection of Illegal Working Enforcement. This reference has been extrapolated in the media to portray 2 in 8 Care Workers (around 25,000) are working illegally. The Home Office considers this to be a false representation based on flawed analysis. There is also a lack of clarity as to whether these individuals were working illegally or just encountered on the premises.

The former Chief Inspector contributed to an article in The Times that was published on Monday 19 February prior to any formal government response being published. As such, the content of the report has been prematurely released without prior clearance from the Home Secretary. That article also contained an inaccuracy.

The article states that the Home Office had issued 275 visas to a care home that did not exist. This is incorrect. There was a licence granted in the name of a real care home without their knowledge and was obtained using false information/evidence. The 275-figure stated was the number of Defined Certificates of Sponsorship that were granted; this is not the number of visas assigned/used, which was c.180. The Home Office are currently working through criminal and financial investigations in Immigration Enforcement.

The foreword also highlights 1,234 Certificates of Sponsorship being granted to a CQC registered provider. Although 1,234 certificates were assigned, 1,014 were used to support a visa application and have subsequently been referred for cancellation. Therefore, the statement that around 1,500 people have arrived in this country from these two sponsors is not correct.

Engagement

The report criticises the Home Office for ‘telling and not listening’ to the sector. However, we believe that the reality has been, and continues to be, substantial engagement with the care sector. Between January 2022 and November 2023, the Home Office delivered 44 external events to 3,760 attendees from private care providers, the NHS and care sector bodies. In addition, we have engaged extensively with local authorities about specific care providers, regulatory bodies in England and the devolved administrations, the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA), Police forces and Immigration Enforcement.   

Abuse

Where issues are identified we take immediate and robust action. From July 2022 we have revoked the licences of 170 sponsors providing social care. Reasons for revocation included supplying sponsored workers to third parties as labour, sponsored workers undertaking duties other than as a care worker, failure to pay the salary stated on the Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) as per the CoS, and failure to comply with UK employment law.

An inevitable consequence of the revocation of these licences is the cancellation of the leave of sponsored workers. However, we are alive to the fact that these individuals provide care to vulnerable individuals and therefore we take steps above and beyond our usual process to protect the continuity of care. Upon the suspension and revocation of social care providers, we notify DHSC, ADASS and LAs of our action and volume of associated workers affected. This then enables re-deployment planning of workers into alternative local providers to enable the continuity of care in the affected region.

Compliance resourcing

The former Chief Inspector noted that there are 63 Visiting Officers associated with compliance activity, but this does not accurately reflect wider efforts in this area. Whilst Visiting Officers play a key role in the assurance process, they are part of a wider command of 136 staff. In total, these staff work in a range of roles to effectively ensure that those who are abusing the immigration system, or not complying with their duties, face sanctions.

Of the 170 number of care provider licences that have been revoked, 80 have been revoked without a physical visit taking place. These cases have been assessed on the information available to decision-makers from the Sponsorship Management System, referrals from caseworking teams, or intelligence led enquiries.

Many of these referrals are made where non-compliance has been identified through the routine checks undertaken which highlight that the sponsor has failed to comply with mandatory duties, and available evidence supports that finding. Referrals include sponsors who have ceased trading, have provided false information, have assigned CoS to relatives, or may be operating as an employment agency supplying sponsored workers as routine labour to other companies.

Increasing numbers of referrals are driven by high CoS requests where there is little or no evidence of a trading presence or online footprint. In many of these cases, sponsors were suspended with no representations submitted by the sponsor in response.

Sector regulation

UK Visas and Immigration’s core responsibility is the management of the immigration system and by extension to protect the integrity of the border; it cannot regulate care, nor can it enforce wider labour market regulation. We agree with the former ICIBI’s recommendation that more needs to be done across government to resolve the widespread issues that have been experienced.

Summary

Whilst we accept the recommendations made by the inspectorate in their report, these are improvements that were already in motion prior to the receipt of the report. They are sensible and the department is exploring how to go above and beyond these to overhaul the frameworks and systems within which adult social care sits. Policy changes implemented on the 11th March will go some way to assist with this, but the situation, and our response to it, is under constant review.

To reiterate, the Home Office has accepted all 5 of the ICIBI’s recommendations.

Recommendation 1

Review of route

Complete a review of the addition of care workers and home carers to the Skilled Worker route, as committed to in the Equality Impact Assessment of January 2022. Lessons identified in the review should underpin any lessons learned to inform future decisions about how to:

• use or expand the Shortage Occupation List

• reform the Skilled Worker route, and

• effectively engage with relevant organisations in sectors regarded as at high risk of immigration abuse or labour exploitation

Accepted

Work has been underway since early 2023, through various strands of activity. The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) undertook an extensive review of the Shortage Occupation List last year, after being commissioned by the government in 2022.  The MAC also recently undertook a review of the Immigration Salary List, which the government has now responded to. Work reforming the Skilled Worker route continues, including net migration policy changes, which the Home Office worked in lock-step with the Department of Health and Social Care on since mid 2023.

Engagement activities across adult social care and broader sectors continue and the Home Office continues to engage with departments where there is exploitation within sectors (and where policy levers on broader labour market issues reside).

Home Office Expected Implementation Date: government intention to commission the MAC on their longer-term review of the Immigration Salary List in Spring 2024, with a view to implementation in Spring 2025.

Recommendation 2

Sponsor licensing

Conduct a review of the sponsor licensing application and decision-making process in collaboration with industry leads and sector experts. Learn from the characteristics of poor licensing decisions and the resulting problems to inform future decision making.

Accepted

Work is already underway to review operational processes and structures, including all processes relating to the safeguards in the sponsor licensing process at both licence application stage and when allocating Certificates of Sponsorship.  The Home Office is engaging with key stakeholders within the care sector and the Department of Health and Social Care, to inform our decision-making in this area and a review of processes encompassing this feedback will be completed within 3 months.

Home Office Expected Implementation Date: To be completed by July 2024.

Recommendation 3

Compliance

Conduct a review of headcount, performance targets, and processes for each area of compliance to ensure that workflow is managed efficiently and blockages in one area do not impact on the overall capability of the compliance function.

Accepted

The Home Office is reviewing the current compliance structure with a view to providing tighter control of compliance activity and enable more robust decision-making linked to the department’s objectives of tackling immigration abuse.  This review will also incorporate capacity plan adjustments to take in to account expectations around performance targets and to ensure appropriate levels of resource are allocated to all functions.

Home Office Expected Implementation Date: To be completed by July 2024.

Recommendation 4

Multi-agency agreement

Work with enforcement and regulatory partners to develop and agree a multi partner memorandum of understanding (MOU). The MOU should define:

• the responsibilities of each department, agency, and regulator in relation to the care sector

• the individual and shared goals of each partner involved in the compliance and regulation of the care sector

• how partners will work together to share intelligence, experience, and best practice to achieve their shared goals of enforcement, safeguarding, and regulation of the care sector.

Accepted

The Home Office has been working with the Care Quality Commission and the Department of Health and Social Care since the summer of 2023 on policy development and data sharing. 

To reflect the shared responsibilities relating to the adult social care sector (including Home Office responsibilities relating to visas), the department has been engaging with the Department of Health and Social Care, Department for Levelling-Up, Housing and Communities, the Director for Labour Market Enforcement and the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services, to map responsibilities across central and local government and the sector.  

Workshops continue between parties and a formal document setting out the roles and responsibilities of each department will be produced by May 2024. 

Home Office Expected Implementation Date: May 2024.

Recommendation 5

Guidance for applicants

Work in partnership with the responsible government departments and agencies to agree a concise ‘migrant’s guide to UK employment rights’, which can be proactively shared with migrants at the earliest opportunity. The guide should include contact details for migrants who require advice, and for those wishing to report safeguarding concerns to the Home Office, and other relevant care sector partners.

Accepted

The Home Office will work with other government departments and agencies to produce a document for migrants on their employment rights.

Home Office Expected Implementation Date: July 2024.