The UK’s social care sector has been absorbing pressure from multiple fronts in the past few months: a dramatic reduction in overseas care worker recruitment due to immigration reforms, rising operational costs, and a major structural shift in the public health system due to the abolition of NHS England.
As the government redirects control to the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), care providers are left navigating increasing uncertainty, particularly regarding how services will be funded and integrated, with the proposed immigration reforms.
The Workforce Crisis Deepens
The UK government’s proposed immigration reforms cite exploitation of migrant workers and policy misuse as the reasoning to end overseas recruitment for care worker roles. While existing visa holders can continue working, new sponsorships will require providers to prove unsuccessful attempts to hire domestically first.
According to the Office for National Statistics (2025), net migration to the UK fell to 431,000 in 2024—less than half the figure from the previous year. Most alarming for the care industry, only 26,100 people came to the UK on a Health and Care Worker visa between April 2024 and April 2025, a steep drop from 143,900 the year prior.
Care Forum Wales warns that the immigration reforms will “inevitably lead to care homes closing and domiciliary care companies going to the wall” At least 40,000 overseas care workers have already been displaced following sponsor license suspensions (UK Home Office, March 2025).
The Problems: Fewer Workers, Rising Costs, Greater Risk
The end of international recruitment for care workers is already causing:
- Increase in operating costs driven by rising national insurance contributions and statutory wage hikes
- Closure threats for care homes and reduced capacity in domiciliary care.
- Increased stress on remaining staff and management.
- Delays in wage processing, back-office overload, and compliance risk.
- Bottlenecks like bed blocking, delayed discharges, and negative patient outcomes.
How We Help: Strategic Support for Social Care Providers
With national immigration policy tightening and the structure of public healthcare transforming, care providers can’t afford operational inefficiencies or compliance risks.
In the face of this crisis, H Connect International provides essential back-end support to help UK care providers stay resilient and future-ready.
Offshoring back-end operations can reduce your operating costs by 50–60% compared to managing accounting, HR, and payroll teams in-house in the UK.
We provide qualified, tech-enabled professionals and systems that plug seamlessly into your operations, without compromising on quality, speed, or compliance.
Here’s how we help:
- Accurate, Timely Payroll: Ensure compliance with changing statutory wage requirements and avoid disruptions from underpayment errors.
- Financial Forecasting: Our real-time dashboards and scenario-planning tools help providers understand and adapt to funding shifts.
- HR Support & Compliance: Manage changing employment models, domestic recruitment efforts, and workforce documentation smoothly.
- Automation for Efficiency: Streamline administrative tasks to free up internal resources and reduce overhead.
- Scalable Solutions: Whether you’re running a small care home or managing a large network, our services scale with your operations.
Partnering with H Connect International helps you:
- Reduce administrative burden
- Improve financial visibility
- Stay compliant amid regulatory flux
- Maintain payroll and HR continuity during a workforce crisis
Whether you’re a small care home, a regional group, or a domiciliary care service, we can help you stabilize your operations and plan for the future, without stretching your internal team.
Reach out for a conversation on how we can support your organisation during this period of unprecedented change.
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