Foreign social and home care workers, who arrived in the U.K. before May 2025, will be able to normally settle (become permanent residents) in five years, rather than in 15 years, as was first proposed in the British government’s ‘earned settlement’ scheme announced in November 2025.
The government had originally announced the draft earned settlement scheme under pressure from the parties on the right, especially Reform U.K., which, at the time, was surging in popularity. The basis of the overhaul was to increase the default qualifying period for settlement from five to ten years, with various factors either adding to or lowering the default qualifying duration of time. Under the scheme, finalised on Monday (November 2, 2026), social care workers earning at least £25,000 per year, who arrived in the U.K. before May 2025, would be eligible for ‘indefinite leave to remain’ (ILR) after five years.
Those who have fallen afoul of the initial visa conditions would be given “a second chance”, U.K. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said, with a fresh five-year qualifying period.
The softening of the conditions for residency in the final version of the earned settlement rules, announced by Ms. The government, headed at the time by Prime Minister Keir Starmer, had argued the immigration overhaul was necessary to counter the surge in migration (sometimes called the ‘Boriswave’) in the social care and student categories that happened after Covid, during the administration of Boris Johnson, a Conservative. However, following a tightening in policy started by the Rishi Sunak government and continued by Mr. Mahmood’s own cost estimate against her. He alleged that Ms. Mahmood was not in control of the government’s immigration policy and that Housing Secretary Angela Rayner, who is a prominent figure on Labour’s left, was in charge.
Mahmood said on Monday (November 2, 2026), adding that the government would help workers find positions with legitimate care providers. The U.K. government said that over 2,02,000 responses were received, most (73%) of whom were visa holders. Net migration hit a record of 9,44,000 in the year ending March 2023. Starmer’s Labour government, the net figure as of December 2025 dropped to 1,71,000. “10 billion pounds. That is the cost of today’s U-turn,” shadow (i.e., opposition) Home Secretary Chris Philp said in the House of Commons on Monday (November 2, 2026), using Ms.
“The government has already stripped around 1,800 exploitative employers of their licenses,” Ms.
Mahmood, was a response to pressure from the left flank of the Labour Party and health unions, as well as a response to a public consultation on the draft policy, conducted earlier this year.
