Patel, Braverman and Jenrick Immigration Scheme Led to Unexpected and Unregulated Influx of 1.2 Million Foreign Workers
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Conservative hardliners on immigration oversaw a large, uncontrolled rise in overseas skilled workers entering Britain while in charge of the Home Office between 2020 and 2024, a report by the House of Commons' Public Accounts Committee reveals today.
Successive Home Secretaries, Priti Patel and Suella Braverman, and Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick, presided over new visa rules that recruited large numbers of workers without introducing sufficient safeguards.
These changes were extended by Patel in February 2022 to include care home workers following COVID, and continued under Braverman, who succeeded her under both Liz Truss' and Rishi Sunak's governments.
Jenrick, a vocal critic of unregulated immigration, served as Immigration Minister from October 2022 to December 2023 - the period when arrivals under the skilled worker scheme peaked, before falling in 2024.
The extension of the scheme to include care workers, introduced by Patel, accounted for 648,100 of the applications.
Chris Philp MP, Shadow Home Secretary, did not respond to questions about the Conservative record but told Byline Times: "Labour's first year in office has been a disaster. Over 20,000 people have crossed the Channel illegally already this year, the highest ever at this point. If this chaos continues, we're on track to hit 50,000 by the end of 2025."
A factual report from the Public Accounts Committee shows that, instead of an anticipated 360,000 arrivals under the scheme, the final number was 1.18 million - including dependents - a figure nearly ten times larger than the estimate of 148,000 migrants arriving by small boats between 2020 and 2024.
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The report is highly critical of the Home Office's handling of the scheme. Although applicants were required to obtain sponsorship from businesses, almost none of these businesses were vetted. Each civil servant was reportedly responsible for overseeing 1,600 firms, and 99% of applications were initially approved without scrutiny. In one case, 16 applications were linked to the same address.
As a result, MPs concluded that many of those arriving in the UK were exposed to exploitation. Some had paid large sums to agents in their countries of origin and were in debt on arrival; others had been trafficked. Around 5,000 used the visa route to claim asylum, while others who lost employment simply vanished. Some may have become victims of modern slavery.
The report notes that the Home Office did not monitor whether v
Packed with exclusive investigations, analysis, and features
SUBSCRIBE TODAY
Conservative hardliners on immigration oversaw a large, uncontrolled rise in overseas skilled workers entering Britain while in charge of the Home Office between 2020 and 2024, a report by the House of Commons' Public Accounts Committee reveals today.
Successive Home Secretaries, Priti Patel and Suella Braverman, and Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick, presided over new visa rules that recruited large numbers of workers without introducing sufficient safeguards.
These changes were extended by Patel in February 2022 to include care home workers following COVID, and continued under Braverman, who succeeded her under both Liz Truss' and Rishi Sunak's governments.
Jenrick, a vocal critic of unregulated immigration, served as Immigration Minister from October 2022 to December 2023 - the period when arrivals under the skilled worker scheme peaked, before falling in 2024.
The extension of the scheme to include care workers, introduced by Patel, accounted for 648,100 of the applications.
Chris Philp MP, Shadow Home Secretary, did not respond to questions about the Conservative record but told Byline Times: "Labour's first year in office has been a disaster. Over 20,000 people have crossed the Channel illegally already this year, the highest ever at this point. If this chaos continues, we're on track to hit 50,000 by the end of 2025."
A factual report from the Public Accounts Committee shows that, instead of an anticipated 360,000 arrivals under the scheme, the final number was 1.18 million - including dependents - a figure nearly ten times larger than the estimate of 148,000 migrants arriving by small boats between 2020 and 2024.
Government Spends Billions on Border and Custom Controls Still Incomplete Three Years After Brexit
No final date has been set for when 'the most effective border in the world' will be fully operational, according to a new report by the National Audit Office
David Hencke
Exploitation and Modern Slavery
The report is highly critical of the Home Office's handling of the scheme. Although applicants were required to obtain sponsorship from businesses, almost none of these businesses were vetted. Each civil servant was reportedly responsible for overseeing 1,600 firms, and 99% of applications were initially approved without scrutiny. In one case, 16 applications were linked to the same address.
As a result, MPs concluded that many of those arriving in the UK were exposed to exploitation. Some had paid large sums to agents in their countries of origin and were in debt on arrival; others had been trafficked. Around 5,000 used the visa route to claim asylum, while others who lost employment simply vanished. Some may have become victims of modern slavery.
The report notes that the Home Office did not monitor whether v
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