Mario Kreft MBE, chair of Care Forum Wales, criticised the plan put forward by Reform UK leader Nigel Farage to make legal migrants reapply for visas and abolish the main route to permanent settlement in Britain.
Mr Kreft said such a move would strip people of their security and deter overseas workers from staying in the UK, leaving care homes and home care providers struggling with already severe staff shortages.
“Changing the rules halfway through”
Speaking out, Mr Kreft said:
“These proposed new policies from Reform UK present significant risks to the adult social care sector here in Wales.
“The people who staff these vital institutions are highly skilled, and we have relied for many years on people from overseas to provide care. Nurses and carers, especially during Covid, did fantastic work supporting the most vulnerable.
“Changing the rules halfway through, stripping people of their Indefinite Leave to Remain status and forcing them back onto visas, sends the message that they are not welcome.”
Official statistics show that around 15% of registered care workers in Wales were born outside the UK, underlining the sector’s dependence on overseas staff.
Staffing crisis could worsen
Mr Kreft warned that the controversial plan could make recruitment even harder at a time when Wales already faces more than 10,000 social care vacancies.
“If we lose the people we currently have, services will be cut back and some care homes or domiciliary providers may be forced to close,” he said.
“The knock-on effect will fall back on the NHS, which is already under pressure. When social care struggles, the health service struggles too. This policy is not just misguide, it is madness.”
Political backlash
The proposals have already attracted condemnation from across the political spectrum. Critics argue that Reform UK is conflating legal migration with the issue of small boat crossings for political point-scoring.
Mr Kreft added: “This is about curtailing necessary, legal immigration for the sake of a headline. The short-term damage would be severe, and the long-term impact could be disastrous.”
