Earned settlement: the value of international health and care workers in the UK
On 20 November 2025, the UK Government proposed a new immigration system called “Earned Settlement”.1 This new system will lengthen and restrict routes to indefinite leave to remain for an estimated 616,000 overseas workers in the health and care sector who came to the UK between 2022 and 2024.1 This is in addition to the ban on overseas recruitment of adult social care workers in force since July 2025. Since the new rules mainly affect occupations classified below skill level RQF6 (i.e., Bachelor degree), in practice, this means overseas workers in support roles such as nursing associates, therapy support worker and social care workers will bear the impact of the new rules.
Authors
- Elena Pizzo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0790-7505)
- Pedro Gomes (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0011-9285)
- Ana Correa
- Jolene Skordis
- Xingzuo Zhou
- Mingze Sun
- Tom Palmer
Institutions
- University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (GB)
- University College London (GB)
- Birkbeck, University of London (GB)
Publication Details
- Journal
- The Lancet Regional Health - Europe
- Published
- 2026-01-22
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lanepe.2026.101596
- Primary Topic
- Healthcare Systems and Challenges
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00