Overseas workers who apply for their Health and Social Care visa prior to new immigration rules coming into effect will still be able to bring in dependants, the government has announced.

The Home Office said care workers and senior care workers already in the UK will be able to remain with their dependants when extending contracts and changing their care employer and applying for settlement.

The government has said the changes for new arrivals, which were announced in a five-point plan by home secretary James Cleverly in December, will come into force as soon as possible this year.

UNISON described the government announcement as a “partial climb down” that would “bring some relief to migrant care workers already here with families”.

Head of social care Gavin Edwards said: “Overseas care staff could have been spared weeks of worry.

“The muddled and chaotic approach points to panic at the heart of government. It remains the case that ministers’ reckless changes to immigration policy spell disaster for social care. 

“Migrant care workers are now more likely to shun the UK in favour of parts of the world where their skills and families will be more welcome. 

“That isn’t good for a social care system that’s become reliant upon their support. Ministers should now row back completely and still allow care workers to bring dependants here.

“It’s also high time the government did what it’s long promised. Fix the care sector. That means boosting wages significantly above the minimum wage. Only when care jobs are paid at decent rates will the damaging staffing crisis end.”