Care workers will no longer be recruited from overseas as part of a crackdown on visas for lower-skilled workers, the home secretary has told the BBC.

Yvette Cooper said “it is time to end that care worker recruitment from abroad” and rules will change this year – instead requiring firms to hire domestically or extend visas of overseas workers already in the UK.

The government plans to unveil a series of changes to visa and recruitment laws on Mondayin a bid to cut net migration, and says measures will cut up to 50,000 lower-skilled workers coming to the UK over the next year.

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said the plans were “too little” and called for an annual cap on migration.

Successive governments have battled largely in vain to reduce net migration, which is the number of people coming to the UK minus the number leaving.

Net migration climbed to a record 906,000 in June 2023, and last year it stood at 728,000.

The Home Office has not yet officially confirmed what will be in its immigration White Paper, due early next week.

But speaking on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Cooper said changes to skilled and care worker visas “will come in in the course of this year and those changes… we expect to lead to a reduction of up to 50,000 fewer lower-skilled visas over the course of the next year”.

She added targets for net migration would not be set, saying “they undermined the credibility of anything that governments do”.

Philp told the same programme that the Conservatives would push for a Parliament vote on installing an annual cap on migration. When asked what the cap would be, he said “we’re working on the detail to specify that number”, but it would be “a further reduction of significantly more than 50,000”.

Cooper also said there would be “some changes” to rules around international students and graduates.

“We will let them continue to come and to stay and to work afterwards,” she added.

“We are making some changes, particularly around the standards and the compliance for universities, because, again, we’ve had problems where some universities haven’t had proper standards in place.

“They’ve recruited people to come as international students who then haven’t completed their courses, have either overstayed or… other problems with compliance of the system.”

The government has already tightened rules around care sector worker after coming to power last July.

Since 9 April, care providers who want to recruit a new worker from overseas have had to first provethey have attempted to recruit a worker from within England.

But the new rules will now require care companies to recruit from domestic workers or a pool of over 10,000 care workers in the UK with cancelled sponsorships before hiring from abroad.

Alongside this Cooper promised “to bring in a new fair pay agreement for care workers” to make care jobs more attractive to UK workers and reduce overseas demand.

The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has strongly opposed the recent decision by the National Universities Commission (NUC) to upgrade the nomenclature of degree programmes in Pharmacy, Physiotherapy, and Optometry from bachelor’s degrees to “Doctor” status in Nigerian universities.
The NUC implemented these changes in January, explaining that the decision was driven by the need to incorporate more clinical and practical sessions, improve foundational course coverage, enhance clinical skills, and address all speciality areas comprehensively.

However, the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors said the move may have unintended consequences.

“Conferring the title ‘Doctor’ on multiple professional groups without public education or structural clarity may confuse patients, worsen interprofessional tensions, and enable quackery in an already fragile health system. Teamwork in care delivery depends on clear roles and trust”, the association stated on X on Thursday, May 9.
NARD also stated that over the past two decades, agitations by other health worker groups have increasingly focused on competing with medical doctors, rather than driving systemic improvements.
The association further argued that globally, there is no precedent where pharmacists, physiotherapists, or optometrists in public institutions earn more than medical doctors, explaining that patients typically seek doctors for diagnosis and treatment decisions—a fact reflected in salary structures and clinical governance worldwide.
While the NUC cites “global best practices”, the association pointed out that countries like the UK and Germany do not grant the “Doctor” title to pharmacists or physiotherapists after undergraduate training, except through a PhD, emphasising clear clinical boundaries and robust governance.

“We believe all healthcare professionals should take pride in their unique roles. If one wishes to become a medical doctor, there is a rigorous, defined pathway for that”, the statement added.

Stakeholders have advocated for an urgent end to preventable maternal deaths in Nigeria.

Partfinder International Nigeria, Advocacy and Implementation of MNCNH Innovations, the Centre of Excellence for Population Health Policy, the Medical Women’s Association of Nigeria, and the Centre for Communication and Social Impact made the advocacy in a statement on Monday in commemoration of this year’s International Midwives Day.

Speaking on the theme “Midwives: Critical in Every Maternal Crisis—Frontline Heroes Against Postpartum Haemorrhage,” AIM-MNCNH and other organisations emphasised the irreplaceable role midwives play in saving lives and issued an urgent call to action.

According to the organisations, this theme aligns with the global theme, ‘Midwives: Critical in Every Maternal Crisis,’ and reflects Nigeria’s urgent maternal health priorities, especially the fight against postpartum haemorrhage (PPH), which is the leading cause of maternal deaths in the country.

They further urged the federal government to prioritise national adoption and scale-up of the E-MOTIVE strategy in all maternity care settings and invest in training, recruitment, and equitable deployment of midwives, especially in hard-to-reach areas.

In her remarks, Dr. Amina Aminu Dorayi, Senior Country Director of Pathfinder International Nigeria, emphasised that, “Midwives are not just health workers — they are lifelines. We cannot celebrate them without committing to equip, protect, and empower them to save lives.

According to available data, Nigeria has over 1,000 women die per 100,000 live births — a staggering toll, largely driven by PPH, a condition that is both preventable and treatable.

“Yet, too many midwives remain on the frontlines without the tools, training, or support they need to stop the bleeding and save lives.

“Midwives are often the only providers of skilled care for women during childbirth, particularly in rural and underserved communities.

“They are the ones who stay up through the night with labouring mothers, who improvise when systems fail, and who fight for life in conditions no health worker should ever face.

“The AIM MNCNH Innovations Consortium is calling for bold, coordinated action to transform this unacceptable reality. At the heart of our advocacy is the E-MOTIVE strategy — a WHO-endorsed, evidence-based clinical care bundle proven to reduce severe PPH by up to 60 percent. It includes E-MOTIVE: E- Early detection of postpartum haemorrhage; M- Massage of uterus; O- Oxytocic drug; T- Tranexamic acid; IV- IV fluids; E- Examination of the genital tract + Escalation—all delivered together,” the statement reads in part.