BASW petition on Home Office plans for Earned Settlement

Social workers are calling on the Home Office to keep overseas-qualified social workers on a 5-year path to settlement to prevent a deepening recruitment and retention crisis.

Sign the petition!

BASW's petition highlights that keeping social workers on a 5-year pathway will give certainty to staffing levels, recognise the essential role of social workers, and strengthen public services.

It comes as the UK Government consults on their earned settlement proposals which would see the baseline for earned settlement rise from 5 years to a minimum of 10. The proposals would apply to migrants who have not yet secured settlement by the time the new proposals come into effect.

The government has suggested that frontline, public serving, skilled workers will be eligible to remain on the 5-year route but there has been no clarity on which professions would be included. Social workers are acting now to make sure they are included in that group.

BASW UK’s Public and Political Affairs Lead Kerri Prince said:

“If the Home Office extends the route to settlement to a baseline of 10 years, the UK will lose so many social workers we depend on to keep services running. It would be sending a message to overseas qualified social workers that they are not wanted here in the UK.”

“Overseas qualified social workers are integral to the workforce, and it would take many years to train and recruit social workers in the UK to plug that gap. In the meantime, services would collapse under the pressure and social workers who remain would struggle with further increasing workloads and burnout.

“Migrants deserve security. They deserve respect. Moving the goalposts for those already living and working in the UK is unfair.  

“Immigration policy does not operate in a silo. It has real impact on every aspect of the economy and society.  A government that supports child protection and the safeguarding of adults would shelve these plans and think again.”

Another part of the earned settlement proposals is a reduction in length of a graduate visa from 24 months to just 18. This would mean qualified migrant social workers who have studied and qualified in the UK would not have enough time to complete their development and this policy risks losing skilled UK trained qualified migrant social workers. This would worsen an already critical workforce shortage.

The petition can be signed by anyone involved in social work across the UK, so please share with colleagues. BASW will continue to provide updates on this campaign as it progresses.