Opinion: Migrant workers prop up the UK’s social care system. Now we’re being forced out

After living in the UK as a residential childcare worker for almost three years, I woke up yesterday to re-evaluate whether the investment I made to move here from South Africa was worth it.

Following gains by the anti-immigration Reform UK party during the recent local elections, the Labour government has made a series of announcements which make the life of care workers like myself far more uncertain.

When I arrived in 2022, the promise was that after working for five years on a health and care work visa, I could become a permanent resident. The government now says this could take as long as 10 years. They also want to make it impossible for other people to come from abroad on the care work visa. When making these announcements, the prime minister dismissed people like me as “cheap labour”.

While I appreciate the concerns of the British public, this effort to scapegoat migrant workers is disingenuous.

Migrant workers, before even submitting our paperwork to the Home Office, need to have paid for the visa fee, an English test, medical certificates, police clearance certificates. We need a firm job offer and some funds to settle.

Once we receive our visa and move to the UK, the terms of that visa do not allow us access to most state assistance, like universal credit or housing benefit.

Meanwhile, nothing said by the Labour government aims to robustly investigate serious abuses we often face by British employers. On the contrary, it feels like extending the route to permanent residency from five to ten years will further facilitate modern slavery and the exploitation of migrant care workers. It has been well documented that making workers dependent on their employers for visas opens them up to exploitation.

My union, Unison, is working to ensure migrant care workers are treated with dignity, and not subjected to harm and abuse by unscrupulous employers. The irony is that since Unison funds the Labour party, the politicians drafting these policies benefit from the union dues paid by migrant care workers.

I have spoken to many care workers who have built a life in the UK and hold a great commitment to the work we provide, but are ready to pack their bags and move to a country where our labour is valued.

Many of us are willing to uproot our children all over again in order to pursue a life founded on dignity and equality, as workers who pay tax and contribute to the economy.

Other countries that are looking for care workers allow us to move freely between employers, require only two years of work for permanent residency or have lower overall visa costs.

In the UK, meanwhile, the health and social care system is already under-resourced and under-staffed. Workers I know are being called in on their days off. The local authority I work for often needs extra staff simply to ensure a safe personnel-to-children ratio – vital not only for safeguarding but also to allow kids to socialise or attend health appointments.

If migrant care workers leave the country, the situation will be compounded further.

I am being made to decide between staying in a country that treats my labour as indentured servitude or move to one that values my contribution. With each statement made by this government, it becomes clearer which choice I should make.

Nandi Msezane is a social care worker based in the UK