British businesses warn the UK government plans to tighten immigration rules for foreign workers, instead training and recruiting more British personnel – which will lead to a labor shortage in key sectors.

The UK government announced plans to immigrate to the UK on Monday and tightened rules on who can go to work, study and live.

These recommendations put forward the English language requirements for immigrants, as well as the skills and education they need to obtain a work visa. The government also said migrant workers must live in the UK for 10 years before applying indefinitely.

The government said its new proposal “supports the cheap overseas workforce of British workers” and links immigration policies to skills that promote economic growth.

But businesses are concerned that the British will not (or will not) fill the gaps that may be caused by workers and skills shortages, especially in industries that have traditionally been concerned with immigrant workers, such as health and social care.

A caregiver manager in southern England told CNBC that recruiting British workers has been a “struggle” and attracting native workers into the social care sector.

"It's been several years and we don't have any British applicants, British applicants." The nursing home manager, who could only speak anonymously because of the sensitivity of the matter, told CNBC on Tuesday.

Sources said: "I heard a lot of things, for example, Morrison's (supermarket) paid more, McDonald's (something) paid more. You'll hear all these comments in the community.

"I'm going to say that maybe 70% of our workforce in the care team comes from India. Without those girls, our residents...no one takes care of them...what did you do (filling that workforce)? You can't get people to work. You can't get people to take care of these residents."

Amid the record immigration numbers, the government is under increasing pressure to solve the difficult immigration problems. Nigel Farage's right-wing, anti-immigration reform party's strong performance in polls and in recent UK local elections has increased the government's need to act quickly.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Monday that the strategy “will eventually regain control of our borders and close books on dirty chapters of our politics, economy and nation.”

He added that immigration reform would end what the government calls the country’s “experiment failed in open borders”, which has soared immigrants to nearly one million each year, noting that it would ensure “people who come here have the right to stay in the country.”

In its blueprint for immigration, the government said that the sharp increase in net migration in recent years has been "a significant increase in overseas recruitment, including transfers to low-skilled immigrants, whose worker visas have been significantly improved to less than the extent".

For example, it said that the number of people reaching jobs below degrees through the health and social care visa route has increased dramatically, from 37,000 in 2022 to 108,000 in 2023.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the net mobility rate reached a highest of 906,000 as of June 2023, but fell to 728,000 in the following twelve months.

The government said on Monday it will now "end the recruitment of social care visas overseas", although visa extensions will be allowed until 2028.

Care England, representing independent social care providers, warned that immigration plans could have “serious consequences for sectors already under tremendous pressure.” It notes that there are currently 131,000 vacancies in the nursing industry.

“Let’s be clear – this decision is not the solution,” Care England CEO Martin Green responded to the government’s plans on Monday.

"It's a political gesture that can treat symptoms but ignores the disease. Instead of investing in the sector and solving the recruitment crisis, the government closed one of the doors in the only workforce pipeline that is still running. Social care is not a low-skilled job. It's a high-skilled, low-paying job that deserves recognition, proper awareness, proper investment, meaningful investment."

“While the concerns of exploitation must be addressed, the proposed solution (which completely ends overseas recruitment) can eliminate important labor supply without the need to establish viable domestic alternatives,” Green said.

Business industry leaders said they welcomed moves to improve the training and skills of UK workers, but warned that labor shortages could become more acute.

“Employers are clear: training in the UK is crucial, but so is a controlled, affordable and responsive immigration system that can make investment flow to the UK,” commented Nick Carberry, the UK’s federal CEO of Recruitment and Employment.

The British Federation of Industry said businesses will now have to carefully consider the details of the proposal to limit visas for skilled work to below degree.

CBI CEO Rain Newton-Smith noted: “With the UK’s workforce, as the population ages, the UK’s workforce will shrink in the future, which is more important than ever, and we support the commercial investments needed for the underlying technology adoption and training we support.”

Jane Gratton, deputy director of policy at the British Chamber of Commerce, said businesses are eager to unlock more "local talent".

"However, it is crucial that the pace of change in the immigration system will not cut global talent opportunities until the broader labour market problem is properly addressed," Graton noted.

Companies need to acquire the right skills to grow their economy, she said

"It's usually a last resort when they do everything possible to recruit from the local labor market," Graton said.