Immigration minister Robert Jenrick has highlighted the “very large” number of people coming to the UK on social care visas during the Conservative Party conference.

The minister’s comments came during a Policy Exchange debate entitled ‘How Much Immigration is Too Much?’.

He said: “There’s a very large number of people coming in on the care visa route. That is something that needs careful attention.”

Almost 78,000 people secured long-term social care visas between June 2022 and June 2023 after the government eased immigration rules for the sector.

Of these, 60,000 were granted to care workers with another 18,000 going to senior care workers.

Each person granted a Health and Care visa is also allowed to bring in an immediate family member on a dependent visa.

Social care accounted for 65% of Health and Care visas issued between June 2022 and June 2023 with carers taking up over one-third (37%) of the total.

The policy has come under fire with the New Conservatives group of Tory MPs calling for care worker visas to be scrapped.

Chair of the Migration Advisory Committee, Professor Brian Bell, has also criticised the government’s reliance on a low-wage overseas workforce.

Higher numbers of overseas workers have, meanwhile, led to rising incidents of modern slavery reports.

However, overseas workers have played a key role in helping ensuring care home operators stay in business with vacancies standing at 152,000 or 9.9% of the sector.

A report on how immigration supports the support social care sector is expected to be published by the home secretary in January 2024.