Joint letter to Government warns of Windrush level scandal and risk to NHS from earned settlement policy

A joint letter coordinated by the Work Rights Centre urging the government to drop its earned settlement proposals and “stop history from repeating itself” by risking a similar scandal to Windrush was sent to the Home Secretary and Health Secretary on Thursday. It was delivered on October 29 on behalf of a group of cross-party MPs, a Labour peer and civil society organisations.

The correspondence also told Shabana Mahmood and Yvette Cooper that the changes would “increase workforce instability in the health and care sector – which in turn risks worsening the health and wellbeing of everyone in the UK”.

It warned the earned settlement proposals, which include “punitive” retrospective application, and an “unfair” move to double the baseline qualifying period for Indefinite Leave to Remain to 10 years and triple it to 15 years for care workers, are an iteration of Windrush era policies.

“Ultimately, these proposals are justified by targeting those migrant workers who came in this country’s time of need during the COVID-19 pandemic, much like the Windrush generation answered the call at the birth of the NHS,” the letter said.

The Home Secretary Mahmood first proposed radical changes of the routes to settlement in November 2025, and is expected to announce the finalised policy in the coming days.

The letter follows a parliamentary event on the topic in September organised by the Work Rights Centre and hosted by Bell Ribeiro-Addy, Labour MP for Clapham and Brixton Hill.

The signatories, which included Labour MPs Ribeiro-Addy, Diane Abbott, Clive Lewis and Rachael Maskell, added “the health and care sector is already dangerously under-staffed”, with job vacancies a “persistent issue across the NHS” – particularly for radiographers.

NHS England, for example, faces a vacancy rate of 6.7% in comparison with the UK vacancy rate of 2.1%, as reported by the Office for National Statistics.

“Put simply: the Government will be unable to meet waiting list reduction targets or cancer treatment targets without retaining and growing the pool of professionals,” said the signatories, which also included the Society of Radiographers, a trade union and professional body, and the charity Care England.

The letter continued by asserting that the proposals risk exacerbating existing recruitment and retention challenges across the health and care sector by increasing the risks of family separation.

The adult social care sector remains “structurally reliant” on international recruitment, the signatories added, so “unmet need” would increase without these workers.

It cited Mahmood’s statement on Windrush in 2025 that “we can and must do everything in our power to right this historic wrong,” arguing that the same wrong persists, and the same groups are being targeted by the current immigration proposals.

The correspondence urged the government to implement the recommendations from the 2020 Lessons Learned from Windrush review by Wendy Williams.

The joint letter, whose other signatories included Liberal Democrat, Green, Your Party, Scottish National Party and Plaid Cymru MPs as well as Labour peer Baroness Lister and charity Action for Race Equality, also called on the government to honour its commitment to the Windrush generation and stop these proposals.

It also asked, at the very minimum, for the government to: 

• Delay implementation until Impact Assessments are scrutinised.

• Rule out retrospective application.

• Public service exemption to all health and care workers and dependants.

A follow-up letter with additional signatories was sent on Sunday November 1, bringing the total to 22.

Full list of signatories:

Work Rights Centre
Action for Race Equality
Care England
Society of Radiographers
Bell Ribeiro-Addy, Labour MP for Clapham and Brixton Hill
Diane Abbott, Labour MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington
Clive Lewis, Labour MP for Norwich South
Rachael Maskell, Labour (Co-op) MP for York Central
Nadia Whittome, Labour MP for Nottingham East
Baroness Lister of Burtersett CBE, member of the House of Lords
Manuela Perteghella, Liberal Democrat MP for Stratford-on-Avon
Seamus Logan, Scottish National Party MP for Aberdeenshire North and Moray East
Zarah Sultana, Your Party MP for Coventry South
Siân Berry, Green Party MP for Brighton Pavilion
Adrian Ramsay, Green Party MP for Waveney Valley
Dr Ellie Chowns, Green Party MP for North Herefordshire
Hannah Spencer, Green Party MP for Gorton and Denton
Carla Denyer, Green Party MP for Bristol Central
Liz Saville Roberts, Plaid Cymru MP for Dwyfor Meirionnydd
Ben Lake, Plaid Cymru MP for Ceredigion Preseli
Ann Davies, Plaid Cymru MP for Caerfyrddin
Llinos Medi, Plaid Cymru MP for Ynys Môn