Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of protections for overseas (a) health and (b) social care workers on a visa sponsorship arrangement.

The Government condemns the exploitation of international care workers by rogue employers in the adult social care sector and continues to take robust action against this unscrupulous behaviour.

We have recently implemented a prohibition on Skilled Worker sponsors recouping sponsorship costs from those they sponsor, and those doing so now risk losing their licence. We are also working to ensure sponsorship and employment systems are more strongly aligned.

On 9 April we further clarified our Skilled Worker salary assessment rules to make clear that sponsors cannot inflate wages by including loans for the worker’s immigration application.