Why we are starting the countdown to 22 July 2028

I am the Chief Executive Officer of MAUCARE Services, an award-winning domiciliary care provider based in Gravesend. My journey into care did not start in a boardroom. I began as a frontline carer and worked my way up, building a service that now employs dozens of dedicated staff and supports people across Kent to live safely and with dignity in their own homes.

Like many providers across the UK, MAUCARE relies on overseas care workers to fill critical workforce gaps. These colleagues are not temporary or peripheral. They are trusted, skilled professionals who form the backbone of our service and the wider care sector.

From 22 July 2028, the Care Worker and Senior Care Worker visa routes will be abolished. Frontline care staff will no longer be eligible to remain in the UK under these routes. Instead, employers will be required to sponsor them under alternative Skilled Worker visas, which come with significantly higher salary thresholds.

At today’s rates, these thresholds exceed £40,000 per year. For care providers like us, this represents an additional cost of around £15,000 per employee per year, simply to retain the same experienced staff already delivering essential care.

This would be challenging under any circumstances. It becomes unworkable when public funding for care falls so far below the real cost of delivering safe, high-quality support.

The Homecare Association has calculated the current fair cost of care at £32.14 per hour. By contrast, commissioning rates set by bodies such as the Kent and Medway Integrated Care Board are capped at £23.26 per hour. That is roughly one third less than what care actually costs to provide.

This raises a fundamental question.

How are care providers expected to sponsor staff on visas with substantially higher salary thresholds, when we are already paid well below the fair cost of care?

Without a practical solution, many providers will be forced to reduce services, hand back contracts, or close altogether. The consequences will not only be felt in social care, but across the entire health system.

On 1 January, we will be launching a countdown clock on our website to 22 July 2028. This is not about creating fear. It is about visibility. It is about showing how little time remains to address a policy change that could destabilise the care workforce nationwide.

Care workers are essential workers. Without them, corridor care in hospitals risks becoming the norm rather than the exception. When social care cannot cope, the NHS absorbs the pressure, and everyone loses.

Although 2028 may sound distant, care workers are already planning their futures. Many are questioning whether they can remain in the UK at all. We cannot afford to lose the very people who keep the care system functioning.

We are calling for urgent, realistic dialogue and solutions that recognise the true value of care work and the economic realities faced by providers.

We would welcome policymakers, commissioners, and decision-makers to visit MAUCARE Services in Gravesend, meet our carers and clients, and engage in an open conversation about the impact of this change and the solutions needed to prevent a workforce crisis.

This countdown is not a protest. It is a warning, and an invitation to act before time runs out.