Adam Goldsmith
Live reporter

Image source, PA Media

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has scrapped plans to make migrant care workers already in the UK wait 15 years for permanent settlement.

She had first proposed changing the requirements to qualify for permanent settlement 12 months ago, but unveiled amendments today following backlash from some Labour MPs and a public consultation.

So, what's new?

Under the plans, the standard length of time migrants will have to live in the UK to qualify for permanent settlement will double from five to 10 years.

Certain groups - including care workers who earned at least £25,000 a year while meeting their visa conditions and arrived in the UK before May 2025 - will be eligible for a shorter qualifying period of five years. Read more on these groups and how refugees will be affected by the new rules.

Mahmood also outlined how migrants who have claimed benefits or breached immigration rules will only be able to settle after 20 years.

There was also a tougher line taken on migrants who arrive by small boat; those who are in work or study will have to wait 20 years for settlement, with a further10 years for those who have not entered work or study.

In the Commons, Mahmood told MPs that her policies were "guided above all by fairness", but shadow home secretary Chris Philp described the announcement as a "U-turn" as he warned taxpayers would front a cost of £10bn.

We're now closing our live coverage, but you can find more on this story in our news article.

Image source, BBC News

A care home owner has told the BBC he is "relieved" for care workers who arrived in the UK before May 2025, and are able to apply for indefinite leave to remain (ILR) after five years.

However, Larry Berkowitz, who runs a number of care facilities in Kent, adds he "has concerns" regarding new workers arriving in the UK.

He says waiting 10 years for indefinite leave to remain is "very unsettling for a lot of people".

"I once was an immigrant myself and I did the whole five-year stint and it seemed to last forever," he says.

Berkowitz also insists that he has made significant efforts to hire more domestic staff, rather than relying on an international workforce, but that this has often been in vain.

"We see over and over when we interview [domestic candidates] they simply don't come through. They don't start the job or come even for the interview," he says.

The chief executive officer of charity Mencap has said today's announcement will help protect the "continuity of care" for people living with learning disabilities.

Despite calling the proposals a "welcome reassurance" for workers, Jon Sparkes says the wider challenge of declining staff numbers in the social care sector has not gone away.

"Organisations providing social care cannot continue to lose experienced staff without consequences for people’s care," he says.

He calls on the government to provide a fully funded plan to strengthen the social care workforce through improvements to pay, conditions and career progression.

Could care workers cost £10bn?published at 19:16 GMT

19:16 GMT

By Nicholas Barrett

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp criticised the Home Secretary’s decision to exempt some care workers from needing to wait 15 years before being allowed to settle permanently in the UK.

“How is it she can justify allowing people that she acknowledges arrived here fraudulently can stay forever at a cost that she herself that has admitted costs £10bn? That is the cost of today's U-turn, £10bn.”

So, where does that figure come from?

The Migration Advisory Committee, which advises the government on migration, recently estimated that an average care worker who arrived in 2022/23 would cost the government £36,000 in benefits and public services including health, pension and social care costs throughout their life in the UK.

The Home Office used this estimate, external to forecast a £4.2bn lifetime cost for the 117,000 foreign care workers expected to settle in the UK between 2026 and 2030 under existing rules.

It estimated this would rise to £9.5bn cost, once their adult dependants were factored in.

However, Ben Brindle, from the Oxford Migration Observatory think tank, says the high rate of migrant worker turnover in the care sector makes accurate long-term projections difficult.

Image source, BBC News

A Bangladeshi chef working in Birmingham says he is "really upset" by today's announcement on immigration reforms.

Speaking to BBC News, Ashfak Juned says the earliest date he will qualify for permanent settlement has moved from 2028 to 2033 under the new rules.

The chef says he was "crying" when he heard about the changes, which will move those earning less than £50,000 a year onto a 10-year path to settlement status unless they are exempt.

• Shadow home secretary Chris Philpaccused Mahmood of dismantling her reputation as tough on immigration, and criticised her "U-turn" on revising indefinite leave to remain requirements for social care workers
• But Conservative MP and Home Affairs Committee Chair Dame Karen Bradleytells the BBC Mahmood's "balanced package" will be welcomed by her constituents - as well as the "harder line" taken on those who arrive by small boat
• Liberal Democrat spokesperson Max Wilkinson said the home secretary is "prioritising tough rhetoric" and asked for Mahmood to publish the "full economic benefits" of her immigration plans
• In a separate news conference, Reform UK leader Nigel Faragecalled Mahmood's announcement a "capitulation" - and said Reform would scrap indefinite leave to remain altogether
• Labour group Mainstream's interim council welcomed the decision to scrap the plan for migrant care workers to wait 15 years for settlement but added that "many of the other proposals are not rooted in solidarity"
• However, on the Labour benches, earlier critics of Mahmood's immigration revisions chose to largely pull their rhetorical punches, our political correspondent writes

There will be a different set of rules for refugees – people who have been granted asylum in the UK because they are unable to return to their own country as they fear persecution.

Refugees who arrived in the UK through an official government scheme will qualify for settlement after five years.

However, other refugees will need to wait 10 years and either work or study.

Those who do not work or study will need to wait 20 years.

Refugees who arrived in the UK by small boat or another illegal route will have to wait 20 years if they work or study, and 30 years if they don't.

If you're just joining us, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood today set out plans to overhaul immigration rules.

Under the plans, the standard length of time migrants will have to live in the UK to qualify for permanent settlement will double from five to 10 years.

However, there will be a shorter qualifying period of five years for certain groups, including:

• People who earned at least £50,271 for three of five years immediately before applying for settlement
• Care workers who earned at least £25,000 a year while meeting their visa conditions and arrived in the UK before May 2025
• "Skilled" public service workers, such as doctors, nurses and teachers, and other health and education public service workers

People earning over £125,141 a year, as well as "highly skilled" migrants such as those on Global Talent or Innovator Founder visas, will qualify after three years.

Migrants who have claimed certain benefits or breached immigration rules will only be able to settle after at least 20 years.

To qualify for settlement, migrants will also have to meet other conditions, which includes having a clean criminal record, speaking English to a high standard, owing no debt to the taxpayer, and having a "record of sustained National Insurance Contributions".

The government's migration system has been described as "unfair and unworkable" by an executive director at the Refugee Council.

Imran Hussain says the proposals create "another bureaucratic nightmare" for the Home Office and urges the government to make "fast and good quality asylum decisions" while also granting protection for refugees to help "rebuild their lives".

He says: "These plans condemn refugees to decades of deep insecurity, unable to lay down roots in Britain and contribute their potential."

We can now bring you some reaction to Mahmood's reforms from outside Parliament.

Nadra Ahmed, chair of the National Care Association, tells the BBC the new rules offer "breathing space" for care sector bosses, who will be relieved to know they're "not going to lose a whole tranche of [their] workforce".

Ahmed says its important "to raise the profile and the funding of social care" so that all care workers - domestic and international - are valued appropriately.

How reliant is the care sector on foreign workers?published at 17:34 GMT

17:34 GMT

By Nicholas Barrett

Foreign workers make up a third of staff in the independent care sector in England, according to figures from charity Skills For Care.

A total of 6% of care workers were from EU countries in 2025/26, while 27% were from non-EU countries, including Nigeria, India and Zimbabwe.

The King’s Fund, a health think tank, recorded nearly 1.7 million roles in the adult care sector in the same period, around 96,000 of which were vacant.

This was despite a "substantial increase" in international recruitment in the sector. It said the latest vacancy rate is 6.1%, which is down from a high of 10.2% in 2022.

Skills for Care also recorded a lower turnover rate among foreign care workers than those recruited in the UK.

Ben Brindle, from the Oxford Migration Observatory think tank, told BBC Verify: "The care sector has struggled to attract UK workers because of its relatively poor pay and working conditions.”

But he added that while care wages were relatively low by UK standards, “they can still be attractive to migrants compared with what they could earn in their home countries”.

Retrospective nature of Mahmood's reforms has not changedpublished at 17:15 GMT

17:15 GMT

Jack Fenwick
Political correspondent

The watering down of these plans comes after months of pressure from some Labour MPs including Angela Rayner.

There were two aspects of the plans that they were most unhappy with.

Rayner had said the retrospective nature of the plans was "un-British" and amounted to changing "the goalposts".

She and others had also criticised the impact on social care workers, who under the old plans would have had to wait 15 years for settlement.

Image source, House of Commons

The most significant change in the updated plans has come on social care workers – those who came to the UK before May 2025 and earn £25,000 a year will now be able to get settlement after five years.

But the retrospective nature hasn't shifted – many people who came to the UK expecting to qualify for settlement after five years will now have to wait 10 years.

People inside the Home Office will be keenly looking at how Labour MPs react to that element.

But the early evidence from inside the House of Commons chamber suggests that levels of anger are not that high.

Backbenchers including Diane Abbott, John McDonnell and Stella Creasy have all raised potential concerns, but all chose to largely pull their rhetorical punches.

Rayner was in the House of Commons earlier and didn’t stick around for the home secretary’s statement, but I'm told we shouldn’t read too much into that.

Image source, PA Media

While Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood was outlining her immigration plans in the Commons, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage held a press conference.

Farage says his party has consistently said indefinite leave to remain (ILR) after five years in the UK "is not a right" and is being abused by people on benefits.

He then accuses Mahmood of following the Reform line, and says she "kicked the can down the road" for the next five years instead of removing ILR entirely.

Farage says Mahmood's initial reform proposals were "tough", but calls today's announcement a "capitulation".

He describes the announcement as a "very major U-turn" that will cost the country "a vast amount of money".

The Reform leader says his party would review the status of anybody granted ILR and citizenship under the changes announced today and analyse whether they benefit the British economy.

Changes spare 282,000 people from delayed settlementpublished at 17:00 GMT

17:00 GMT

Jack Fenwick
Political correspondent

We’re already seeing the battle over how this announcement is framed playing out.

Ministers in the Labour government will say these are tough new rules that go further than any previous government.

The Conservatives will say this is a watering down of the even stricter plans announced by Shabana Mahmood last year.

I’m told that under the original version of the plans, 799,000 people would have had their settlement delayed.

Under the updated version announced today, that figure will now drop to 517,000.

Joe Coughlan
Live reporter

Image source, House of Commons

Setting out her plans for migration in the Commons, Shabana Mahmood has said migrant care workers who earn at least £25,000 and arrived in the UK before May 2025 will be eligible for indefinite leave to remain (ILR) after five years.

• The home secretary also said those in the social care sector who have not fulfilled the conditions of their visa will be offered a "second chance" by applying for another five-year visa if they arrived before May 2025

• A five-year path to settlement will remain open to workers on a salary of more than £50,000 a year and those who have made contributions in healthcare and education, as well as refugees who come to the UK via safe and legal routes
• She says those making "exceptional" contributions, such as taxpayers in the highest band who earn more than £125,000, can apply for settlement after three years

• Announcing a policy "guided above all by fairness", Mahmood said those who do not come under the new exceptions will now be on a 10-year path to settlement status, including those earning less than £50,000

• She also set out the government’s disqualifying criteria for settlement, including having a criminal record and failing to speak English to a high standard – with those committing an immigration breach having their wait pushed back to 20 years

• Those who arrived in the country by small boat and are in work or study will have to wait 20 years for settlement, with a further 10 years for those who have not entered work or study

MPs are continuing to ask the home secretary questions about her planned reforms - stick with us as we bring you more updates from the Commons.

Harry Farley
Political correspondent

The changes to settled status will not require a vote in the House of Commons, government sources have told the BBC.

The Home Office believes the changes announced today can be made through a statement of changes to the immigration rules and will not need new legislation.

Labour MP Meg Hillier asks Mahmood about English language requirements under the new scheme.

She says there are many people settled in the UK already, and many who arrive as spouses, without good English.

Hillier therefore calls it a "very gendered issue" as women can become trapped because they don't have access to English learning.

She asks Mahmood if she is making sure better English teaching will be made available to avoid the issue of women becoming trapped.

The home secretary replies that the government has raised the English level expected of incoming migrants and stresses a "good standard of English" is critical to the ability of people to integrate into the country.

It's now the turn of Liberal Democrat spokesperson Max Wilkinson to speak in the Commons.

He says Labour's immigration reforms are "unravelling" by "prioritising tough rhetoric" over a system that works.

Immigration reform must not only prevent small boat crossings, Wilkinson says, but also serve the UK's economy and public services.

He then asks Mahmood if she will publish the "full economic benefits" of the changes she is proposing.

Wilkinson finishes by asking the home secretary why "so many of her backbenchers disagree with her" on immigration and why she "disagrees so strongly" with the prime minister on the UK having a closer relationship to the EU.

Mahmood responds by saying she won't engage with political rhetoric and that her reforms are fair.

She says the settlement recognises the exceptional nature of care workers and that the Lib Dems should applaud that a proper consultation was carried out.

Image source, Getty Images

As Mahmood made her statement in the Commons, we received a press release outlining her planned immigration reforms.

In the release, Prime Minister Andy Burnham says "it is only fair that those who are making the most valuable contribution to our communities are given the opportunity to settle earlier".

"Those in other roles should expect to wait longer while people who abuse the system or arrive illegally will be refused or will also have to wait longer," he says.

He added: "People want to see an immigration system based on control, contribution, and which rewards those who play by the rules.

"These proposals are based on that principle and recognise the contribution made by overseas workers to our country.

"Following Brexit, the previous government lost control of immigration, with an unprecedented spike in numbers. This Home Secretary is gripping this problem, and she has my full support in doing so."

Image source, House of Commons

Back on her feet in the Commons, Mahmood calls Philp's response an "affront".

Given the muted response on the benches behind him, she says, the Tories clearly still remember what happened to immigration under their watch.

She demands an apology for their "abject track record" and says the current Labour government has cut net migration by 82% and found a "fair solution" to immigration reform.

The home secretary says that under her new measures, the cohort of legal migrants most likely to impose a cost will now wait longer for settlement. This will "save billions in the benefits bill", she adds, citing the Department for Work and Pensions.

She repeats this is a "fair solution" to "clean up the mess" left behind by the Tories.

The home secretary concludes by accusing Philp of only having political rhetoric, and that she has nothing more to say to him.

Now it is the turn of backbench MPs to ask questions in the Commons, stay with us.