- Rayner says Mahmood's plan unfairly "changes the goalposts" for foreign care workers.
- Care workers on health and care visas would wait 15 years, not five, for permanent residence.
- The rules would apply retrospectively to arrivals since 2021.
- More than 100 Labour MPs and trade unions oppose the plan ahead of conference.
ANGELA RAYNER has criticised home secretary Shabana Mahmood's plan to make it harder for foreign care workers to gain permanent residence in the UK, saying it would unfairly "change the goalposts".
In an interview with The Times ahead of Labour's party conference, the housing, communities and local government secretary said the plan would hit care workers who had "moved their lives here to look after our loved ones".
Burnham considers immigration exemption for care workers
Under Mahmood's reforms, social care workers who arrived on a health and care visa would have to wait 15 years, rather than five, before claiming permanent residence. The changes would apply retrospectively to those who have arrived since 2021.
About 185,000 foreign care workers were recruited directly from overseas between 2022 and 2024, after the Conservative government opened the visa route.
Shabana Mahmood orders urgent review after two migrant boat landings
Rayner told The Times she stood by her earlier description of the plan as "un-British", made before she rejoined the government under prime minister Andy Burnham. Burnham, who inherited the policy from Keir Starmer, also has concerns and is considering exempting care workers already in Britain.
More than 100 Labour MPs, as well as trade unions, oppose the plan, which is expected to be a major issue at Burnham's first conference this weekend.
Labour backbencher Rachael Maskell told BBC Radio 4's Today programme she expected the reforms to be scrapped.
Migrant workers still bring dependants despite UK curbs
But culture secretary Lisa Nandy defended them, saying the UK had never offered "an automatic right to citizenship" to most people arriving from overseas.
Mahmood told the home affairs select committee this week that a decision would come "very soon". She said the government was trying to "strike the right balance" between its responsibilities to migrant workers and to people already living here.
