New research has laid bare the ongoing impact of a ban on overseas recruitment on homecare providers across the UK.

The study from the Homecare Association reveals that nearly one in three providers cannot meet current demand despite improvements in staff retention.

The government closed overseas recruitment in July 2025.

The policy is designed to end adult social care’s recent reliance on overseas workers, which the Labour party has attributed to poor pay and conditions deterring UK staff.

But with no plan to fill domestic vacancies, the Homecare Association has warned that the government’s decision will compound the sector’s recruitment crisis, leaving families without the support they need.

Over half (59%) of the 450 providers responding to the organisation’s 2025 Workforce Survey said they employed sponsored workers in 2025, while one in 10 said sponsored staff made up three quarters or more of their workforce.

Dr Jane Townson OBE, Chief Executive of the Homecare Association, said: “Families across Britain are waiting for care that simply isn’t available in some places. Government underfunding and penny-pinching contracts have already driven carers away. Now they’ve pulled the plug on overseas recruitment too. It’s reckless, and people will suffer.

“The result is predictable: people go without support, deteriorate and end up in hospital, and then hospitals struggle to discharge them. Providers face impossible choices.”

Nearly nine in ten providers said in the survey that overseas careworkers contacted them this year because their primary sponsor failed to give them enough hours.

The Homecare Association said this is a direct consequence of poor commissioning practices by local authorities and the NHS.

“The Government says it wants to improve pay and conditions through a Fair Pay Agreement and new employment rights. It’s no good promising careworkers a better deal while starving the system of cash.

“Without a statutory National Contract for Care to end underfunding and enforce fair commissioning, these policies are undeliverable. We cannot legislate our way to fair pay if the money and contracts don’t stack up.”

The Homecare Association also accused the government of “NHS cost-shunting” without adequate payment after it announced plans to increase duties on careworkers to deliver NHS healthcare activities.

The Association’s research shows that seven in ten providers employ careworkers who deliver NHS tasks such as catheter care, wound care and diabetes management, yet only 26% receive extra funding for these services.

Dr Townson added: “There is no other business in the economy where government would expect vital, skilled services to be delivered for free. It is unacceptable and unsustainable.”