The route was introduced in 2020 in a bid to attract skilled workers to the UK.
But significant changes to the scheme since then “have not always been based on a full assessment of potential impacts,” it said.
Entry requirements were eased in 2022 for care workers in a bid to tackle staffing shortages but two years later the department tightened the rules, including a ban on dependants as the Tories tried to cut back on immigration.
The number using the route in the first three years of its existence was almost three times that anticipated with 931,000 visas issued rather than 360,000.
Impact
It also highlighted the 80% increase in people staying permanently in the UK in 2024, compared with 2021, the rise in dependants coming in and the increase in people claiming asylum via this route.
The National Audit Office said the impact of changes since the 2022 expansion to include care workers had not been assessed.
It added: “As a result...
But significant changes to the scheme since then “have not always been based on a full assessment of potential impacts,” it said.
Entry requirements were eased in 2022 for care workers in a bid to tackle staffing shortages but two years later the department tightened the rules, including a ban on dependants as the Tories tried to cut back on immigration.
The number using the route in the first three years of its existence was almost three times that anticipated with 931,000 visas issued rather than 360,000.
Impact
It also highlighted the 80% increase in people staying permanently in the UK in 2024, compared with 2021, the rise in dependants coming in and the increase in people claiming asylum via this route.
The National Audit Office said the impact of changes since the 2022 expansion to include care workers had not been assessed.
It added: “As a result...
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Daily Express (Digital) - 1 Issue, March 17, 2025