UK’s new settlement plan sparks backlash from unions

UK trade unions have urged the government to drop or revise plans that would make many low-paid migrants wait up to 15 years to receive indefinite leave to remain, the Financial Times reported. The unions warned that the proposals could increase worker exploitation and create another staffing crisis in social care.

The Trades Union Congress approved a motion at its annual meeting in Brighton on Monday. It said the proposed settlement rules would leave migrant workers as “second-class citizens” and make them feel “scared” and “alarmed”.

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The motion called on Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood to review plans affecting care workers and other non-graduate employees. Many of these workers came to the UK expecting to apply for settled status after five years.

“Rather than making low-paid workers more vulnerable to deportation and exploitation, the government should be raising pay in public services and reforming the visa system to reduce employer power,” the motion said.

Under the current system, most migrants can apply for settled status after five years. The proposed reforms would set the standard period at 10 years. High earners could qualify sooner, while most migrants in non-graduate jobs could face a 15-year wait.

Mahmood has described the proposals as the biggest overhaul of the settlement system in 50 years. The government says the changes are aimed at reducing immigration and responding to the growing support for Reform UK, Nigel Farage’s party.

However, the plans have faced opposition from Labour members and MPs. Some have said the rules should apply only to future migrants and not to people already living in the UK.

Clive Lewis, a Labour MP, said the retrospective part of the policy would be difficult to defend. “The new prime minister had promised change and has promised Labour values. The retrospective element of this policy, in particular, is never going to wash.”

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Care providers have warned that the reforms could worsen staff shortages and affect plans for a national care service.

Officials have discussed a possible compromise involving a new “pre-settled” status. This could give care workers and other low-paid migrants stronger employment rights, including the right to change employers, before they qualify for full settlement and welfare access.

The TUC backed a similar proposal by calling for “a sector-wide visa scheme in social care”. It said the scheme should allow workers to challenge poor employers without facing the threat of deportation.

The proposed changes could also affect teachers recruited by academy chains, according to Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union.

Paul Nowak, general secretary of the TUC, told the Financial Times that the government should “take a step back” from the reforms.

“I feel incredibly uncomfortable about changing the rules for workers who came to this country with one set of expectations and changing the rules halfway through,” he said. “I think that is fundamentally unfair and unjust.”

Sharon Graham, general secretary of Unite, said, “we need migration and we will need more migration . . . we are not getting younger as a society”. She said opposition to migration reflected a loss of hope in Britain’s future.