Unions urge ministers to soften planned changes to immigration rules

Trade unions are putting pressure on the government to soften proposed changes to immigration rules, which would make it harder for foreign workers to secure permanent residency in the UK.

If the plans are approved, most migrants would have to wait 10 years to qualify for permanent residence, rather than five years, while foreign workers on health and social care visas would face a 15-year wait.

The proposals were announced last year by Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, who has kept the same role under new Prime Minister Andy Burnham.

Delegates at the Trades Union Congress (TUC) backed a motion calling for any changes affecting workers already in the UK to be withdrawn.

A government spokesperson said ministers had received 200,000 responses to a consultation on the proposals, which was launched under Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, and they were carefully considering them.

Mahmood has previously defended the plans, saying the "unprecedented" number of people arriving in the UK demands an answer from the government.

Under the government's proposals the standard wait to qualify for settlement, also known as indefinite leave to remain, would increase to 10 years.

People who arrived on health and social care visas would face a 15-year wait, while those who relied on benefits for more than 12 months would have to wait 20 years.

Indefinite leave to remain gives a person the right to live, work and study in the UK for as long as they like and apply for benefits if they are eligible.

The changes would not apply to people who have already obtained settlement but would cover people already living in the UK, including those who had been expecting to get permanent residence in the coming months.

Some Labour MPs have also criticised plans for the changes to apply to migrants already in the UK.

Earlier this year, when she was a backbench MP and not a government minister, Angela Rayner, herself a former care worker, labelled the proposals "un-British".

Rayner, who has since been appointed housing secretary by Burnham, warned that "moving the goalposts undermines our sense of fair play".

At the time, Burnham, who was still Greater Manchester mayor, said he understood where Rayner was "coming from" and that Labour "would do well to listen to what Angela has to say".

The UK's biggest union, Unison, called on delegates to agree they were "alarmed at sweeping attacks on migrant workers which render them second-class citizens in the UK".

Unison senior vice president Debbie Rowden said the plans would drive away international staff despite shortages in critical roles, including in the care sector, where the qualification period would treble.

"The government wants to give bankers a three-year route to settlement, but social care workers will be kept waiting for 15 years," she said.

"The same for nursing auxiliaries, theatre nurses, health care assistants, children's residential care workers, probation service workers and more.

"What does this say about how public service workers are valued? What does this say about the soul of the country, when health and social care is seen as being a low contributor, but bankers as the highest?"

The Society of Radiographers seconded the motion, setting out how international technician numbers had plugged major gaps in NHS workforces, but that numbers had fallen 12% by more than 1,500 between January and March this year because "the goalposts had moved" on settlement.

The motion, which also called for the five-year route to settlement to be retained for workers, was passed unanimously by delegates.