The chair of Sheffield City Council’s adult social care committee has called overseas care worker recruitment “short-sighted”.
Earlier this week, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced government plans to end care worker recruitment from abroad in an effort to curb immigration.
According to Skills for Care, 19 per cent of Sheffield care workers in 2023/24 were from non-EU countries.
Councillor Angela Argenzio, who is also the new leader of the Sheffield Green Party, said she agreed with the government’s policy “in principle” but for “different reasons” – citing the ethics of recruiting workers outside of their home countries.
She said: “If you recruit from abroad, you’re basically taking care workers – who are much needed in every country – away and bringing them here.
“Personally, as a political principle, I think that is a short-sighted way of recruiting. I think we need to look at the full picture and make care jobs more attractive to people in this country.”
To do this, she proposed improving pay, having “really clear career progression”, and giving more recognition to those doing the “vital work”.
A quarter of the Sheffield carer workforce is aged over 55 and reaching retirement age over the next decade, increasing the importance of local sector recruitment.
Councillor Argenzio believes the council’s 2024 launch of the Sheffield Cares academy will be part of supporting this.
She said: “There’s training, advice, and legal advice – it is something that we’re very proud of and expanding all the time.
“It’s a way of matching people with providers and also having all the resources in one place.”
With regards to wider immigration policy, Councillor Argenzio – who moved to the UK from Italy in 1996 – added: “I don’t agree with the national rhetoric, it really doesn’t sit well with me as a human being.
“As a migrant myself, I feel it acutely but I also disagree with the rhetoric of putting the blame on immigration. Sheffield is a very proud city of sanctuary and the fact that the population is so diverse is what makes Sheffield a wonderful place.”
Addressing the House of Commons of Monday, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said changes to skilled worker visas would contribute “to properly controlled and managed” immigration and be “expected to reduce visas by around 100,000 a year”.
27,174 health and care worker visas were granted in 2024, down 81 per cent on the previous year.