Health
Overseas care hiring to end under migration crackdown, Cooper says
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.
Former Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, yesterday participated in the inauguration, first capping, and matriculation ceremony of the Mother of Mercy College of Nursing Sciences, Mbutu-Okohia, Ngor Okpala Local Government Area of Imo State, where he personally capped the institution’s pioneer nursing students.
In her address, Provost of the college, Rev. Sr. Tochukwu Martha Ike, described the event as the realisation of a long-held vision by the Daughters of Mary Mother of Mercy (DMMM) to widen access to quality nursing education.
According to her, the college was established in response to the country’s urgent demand for well-trained and compassionate nurses, especially in underserved areas.
Sr. Ike noted that the institution had already recorded notable milestones, including full accreditation by the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria and commencement of a Basic Nursing Programme supported by a qualified academic and administrative workforce.
She reaffirmed the college’s dedication to evidence-based and community-centred nursing practice.
Acknowledging the challenges confronting the young institution — particularly in infrastructure development, facilities upgrade, and funding, she expressed optimism that continued support from government and donors would help position the college as a leading centre for healthcare training.
Addressing the students, Obi congratulated the pioneer set and urged them to uphold the values of discipline, compassion, and integrity that define the nursing profession.
He described nurses as the “heartbeat of functional healthcare systems,” and encouraged the students to pursue excellence and lifelong learning in service to humanity.
He also commended the DMMM Congregation for its significant contributions to education and healthcare, noting that faith-based institutions continue to play a crucial role in reinforcing Nigeria’s social foundations.
The ceremony concluded with expressions of appreciation to community leaders, government officials, benefactors, and stakeholders for their support towards establishing the college, which is expected to contribute significantly to healthcare development in Imo State and beyond.
Serenity Royale Hospital has refuted claims that it conducted any drug-related tests on actress Regina Daniels.
The hospital said this in a public statement released on Thursday evening, following the trending medical report allegedly from the hospital confirming Regina Daniels’ drug addiction.
Recall that Regina Daniels’ estranged husband, Senator Ned Nwoko had accused her of drug addiction and insisted that the actress must submit herself for rehabilitation.
The accusation came after Regina called out the Senator for domestic abuse amid their ongoing messy breakup.
However, laboratory tests purportedly conducted by the hospital surfaced on the social media on Wednesday, showing toxic levels of marijuana, cocaine, morphine, opiates, and alcohol in her system.
Denying conducting any test on the actress, the hospital stated that the alleged medical report was fabricated.
Speaking in a statement signed by its management, the hospital said “Our attention has been drawn to a post (on an alleged MID TERM HOME DETOX REPORT) being circulated online in the name of Serenity Royale Hospital with respect to Mrs Nwoko Regina.
“We wish to state clearly that the publication and circulation of the said post containing classified information did not emanate from us and respectfully request the public to disregard same.”
Suspended Paystack co-founder, Ezra Olubi has in a tweet revealed he was diagnosed as having both HIV+ and Hepatitis B.
He stated this in a post he shared on his X page some years ago which has now resurfaced online.
Recall that Olubi was recently suspended by Paystack over allegations of s3xual misconduct after his tweets of years ago resurfaced online.
It was gathered that between 2009 and 2013, Ezra Olubi allegedly posted a series of s3xually explicit tweets making comments involving minors and referencing s3xualized anime characters.
One of the tweets read: “Last time I felt this way and went to the hospital for a general checkup, I was diagnosed as both HIV+ and with Hepatitis B.”
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