THE CEO of Scottish Care has said Labour are “massively damaging” social care in the country by “closing the door” on international recruitment and making it “almost impossible” for current staff to hold onto their jobs.
Donald Macaskill told The National new visa restrictions, which came into effect last month, are compounding problems already created in the care sector by the previous Tory UK government.
Not only are care providers in Scotland now struggling with international recruitment, but the “devastating impact” of the hike to employers’ National Insurance contributions is leading to providers being unable to attract staff from Scotland.
It comes as statistics show the number of visas issued to foreign nationals coming to the UK for employment, study, family or humanitarian reasons has fallen sharply, driven by a steep drop in people arriving for work.
The figures for work-related visas have nearly halved in the year to June 2025, falling 48% from 545,855 to 286,071.
This largely reflects changes in legal migration rules introduced early last year by the previous Conservative government, which included restricting the ability of most international students to bring family members with them to the UK, as well as banning overseas care workers from bringing dependants.
Macaskill said the care sector in Scotland had managed to make some recovery towards the end of last year from those new rules after efforts were made to recruit overseas workers who did not necessarily need to bring their families over.
But he has warned that the figures are only going to get worse on the back of even more restrictions introduced by the Labour Government that took effect last month.
“It’s impacted the ability to recruit internationally, at a time when care organisations are not able to attract staff internally from the indigenous community. The reason that’s become even worse is yet another action of the Labour Government which has been around the National Insurance employers’ increase which is having a devastating impact.
“I think many of us hoped that with a new government at Westminster we would see a sensible realignment of social care policy, but we’ve seen the direct opposite.
“Labour has been massively damaging to social care in Scotland and sadly we’ve had complete silence from Scottish Labour around National Insurance and migration.”
New measures were announced in a white paper earlier this year that mean overseas workers will now generally need a degree-level qualification to apply for the main skilled worker visa.
Meanwhile, a dedicated visa for social care workers introduced during the Covid pandemic has now closed to new applicants. Ministers claimed the visa was a key driver of increased immigration in the years after Brexit and better pay in the sector can solve longstanding recruitment problems.
People will also now typically have to live in the UK for 10 years before applying for the right to stay indefinitely – double the current five-year period.
Macaskill said: “We’re left in a situation where without workers coming in internationally and without the ability of really increasing terms and conditions because monies have not been allocated to the Scottish Government to do that, we’re seeing services increasing challenged to continue to deliver.
“If they’re in home care they’re reducing what they can offer and if they’re in care homes they’re not being able to effectively meet demand.
“I had a very distressed manager on the phone a few days ago saying they had had somebody who’s been here for several years who now can’t continue because she can’t meet the requirements of the new visa system.
“The UK Government has closed the door to international recruitment, and I would argue that is miscalculated and a political response to what is happening in England. They are [also] making it almost impossible to hold on to the amazing women and men who are already here.”
When Keir Starmer released the white paper earlier this year, MacAskill joined others in comparing him to Enoch Powell “at his worst” after he said the UK risks becoming an “island of strangers” without further controls on immigration.
The Home Office and Scottish Labour have been approached for comment.
