Rayner Stands By Her Attack as Ministers Deny a Cabinet Rift
Angela Rayner repeated that the fifteen-year settlement rule is “very disruptive” for care workers “asked to come to this country to care for some of our most vulnerable”, and that the Home Office “changed the goalposts years down the line”. The Prime Minister is understood to be uneasy and is weighing an exemption for those already here. Shabana Mahmood says a decision is coming “imminently”. Around 180,000 foreign care workers arrived between 2022 and 2024, many of whom would otherwise qualify for permanent residency in 2027.
The 2027 date is what makes this urgent rather than merely awkward. A cohort recruited under one set of rules reaches the five-year threshold in eighteen months, which is precisely why the government is changing the rules now and precisely why more than a hundred of its own MPs object. Rachael Maskell has said she expects the plans to be amended so they do not apply retrospectively, which would be the face-saving landing. Ms Mahmood’s own words concede the problem — “a lot of people wondering what rules will apply to them” — while insisting the balance is right. Ministers spent the afternoon denying any cabinet rift, which is rarely necessary when there is not one. Watch whether the exemption is announced from the platform this week.