Abbots Care CEO Camille Leavold says that as a company that supports thousands of older and vulnerable people in their own homes, these new restrictions on the use of overseas workers, if not immediately accompanied by urgent and significant investment in the UK's care infrastructure, risk being catastrophic.
“The UK care sector is already at breaking point,” says Leavold. “Our ageing population is growing rapidly, demand for care is rising every year, and despite tireless recruitment efforts, we simply do not have enough UK-born workers entering the profession.
“We have always focused on recruiting form the UK as a priority and still do. We offer full training, qualifications and have supported thousands of care worker to qualify and progress their careers in the last 30 years. However, there are simply not enough people to fill the 120,000 vacancies the sector is short from the UK workforce nor the 450,000 that Skills for Care predict we will need by 2040.
“For many providers like ours, overseas talent recruitment has been a lifeline. Immigrant care workers are not just essential - they are the backbone of modern home care in Britain.
“Without a viable alternative workforce strategy ready to go now — not in two or five years — restricting overseas workers will mean: clients going without vital daily support; families under pressure to provide care they are untrained and unequipped for; carers stretched beyond safe limits; and thousands of jobs will be left unfilled, not because providers won't hire locally, but because local applicants simply do not exist in the numbers required.
“To withdraw this critical labour pipeline without first shoring up our domestic workforce is not a reduction in migration — it's a reduction in care.
“We urge the Prime Minister and his Cabinet to sit down with the sector immediately. We need a clear, well-funded national workforce plan: one that includes a professionalised pathway for care workers, fair wages, proper training, and the kind of support that makes care a respected and sustainable career. And we need transitional measures to avoid devastating service gaps while that plan is put in place.
“Millions of people – older people, disabled people, people with long-term health needs — rely every day on the compassion, skill, and dedication of our carers. This is not an immigration issue. It is a care issue, a workforce issue, and ultimately a human issue.
“We remain ready to work with the government to find a solution. But we cannot do it alone — and we certainly cannot do it overnight, without the overseas colleagues who have kept our services running.”
Abbots Care is a family-run business launched nearly 30 years ago in 1995 by Camille, who was a carer from a young age, and her mum Stephanie, who was passionate about care, having worked firstly with people with learning disabilities at a local NHS hospital before qualifying as a Nurse Manager and working with children's respite service.
Camille and her sister also worked in the care sector in different roles and all of them felt frustrated with the way the agencies that they worked for were run. No training was offered, and no one knew who could do what, with a drive for money over quality.
With no funding but a whole lot of heart and drive, the three women launched Abbots Care. Initially, they were their own care workers and unpaid managers, while they set the business up. They soon won their first client - the NHS via continuing care - which gave them the chance to recruit and train a team of people.
Fast forward nearly 30 years and Camille as MD of Abbots Care is responsible for supporting 1300 customers and some 600 care workers. Camille is also Non-Executive Board Member of the Homecare Association.