MPs say Home Office unaware if foreign workers leave UK after visas expire
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which oversees government spending, said the department has not analysed exit check data since the skilled worker visa was introduced in 2020.
The PAC said the Home Office relies on airline passenger records to track departures but has not reviewed this data since 2020. (Photo: iStock)
Vivek Mishra works as an Assistant Editor with Eastern Eye and has over 13 years of experience in journalism. His areas of interest include politics, international affairs, current events, and sports. With a background in newsroom operations and editorial planning, he has reported and edited stories on major national and global developments.
THE HOME OFFICE does not know whether foreign workers are leaving the UK or staying on illegally after their visas expire, according to a cross-party group of MPs.
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which oversees government spending, said the department has not analysed exit check data since the skilled worker visa was introduced in 2020, the BBC reported.
Between December 2020 and the end of 2024, about 1.18 million people applied through the skilled worker visa route.
The PAC said the Home Office relies on airline passenger records to track departures but has not reviewed this data since 2020.
It said the department must explain how it plans to record whether people have left the UK.
The PAC also highlighted evidence of exploitation, including debt bondage and excessive working hours, and said the department had been “slow and ineffective” in tackling it.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said in May that overseas recruitment for care workers would end. Home Office Permanent Secretary Dame Antonia Romeo said overstaying was a “problem” the department was “fixing”.
Dr Madeleine Sumption from the Migration Observatory told BBC Radio 4 that the Home Office’s job-matching process did not seem “hugely effective”.
A Home Office spokesperson said the previous government’s visa policy led to record migration.
Starmer says the grooming gang inquiry will not be “watered down”
The prime minister confirmed Dame Louise Casey will work with the inquiry
Four survivors have quit the panel, raising concerns over its remit
The inquiry is still finalising its terms and chair
PRIME MINISTER Keir Starmer has said the national grooming gang inquiry will not be “watered down” and will examine racial and religious motives, after a fourth survivor quit the panel.
He was questioned at Prime Minister’s Questions by Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, who said survivors feared the inquiry was being diluted and their voices silenced.
Quoting survivors, Badenoch said they believed it would “downplay the racial and religious motivations behind their abuse” and asked: “Aren’t the victims right when they call it a cover-up?”
Starmer said survivors had been ignored for many years and that “injustice will have no place to hide.”
He confirmed Dame Louise Casey, whose report recommended a statutory inquiry, would now be working with it. He invited those who had quit to rejoin, adding: “We owe it to them to answer their concerns.”
Jess, not her real name, became the fourth survivor to step down, joining Fiona Goddard, Ellie Reynolds and Elizabeth. Her lawyer Amy Clowrey confirmed her resignation.
Another survivor, Samantha Walker-Roberts, told the BBC she would stay on the panel and wanted the inquiry’s remit widened beyond grooming.
The inquiry, announced in June, is still finalising its terms and chair.
One potential chair, Annie Hudson, withdrew earlier this week over conflict of interest concerns linked to her social work background, while another nominee, former police chief and child abuse expert Jim Gamble, met survivors on Tuesday.
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