‘Was I not enough?’: care worker barred from meeting home secretary

K olade had carefully prepared what he would tell the home secretary about the elderly people he cares for, the life his family had built in Britain and how her immigration proposals could threaten both. The meeting with Shabana Mahmood had already been rescheduled twice. When the third date fell during a holiday, he cut his trip short to travel to London. But hours before the meeting was due to take place, it was cancelled after Mahmood declined to allow him to attend.

The rejection left him in tears. “It was a feeling of humiliation,” Kolade said. “I cried because I felt like someone saw me less to be in the same room with her. “Was I not enough to be in the same room with the home secretary? It’s not right to have treated anybody that way.” The meeting, scheduled for 21 October, was to be the first between Mahmood and the general secretary of Unison , Andrea Egan, since she took office. Egan planned to attend alongside a union policy officer and Kolade, who had been selected by fellow migrant workers to represent them.

Two hours before the meeting, the home secretary’s office informed Unison that Kolade would not be permitted to attend because Mahmood considered his presence “inappropriate”, according to the union. Egan said ministers should welcome opportunities to hear directly from workers about their experiences. “Kolade is a dedicated care worker and an inspirational campaigner. In other words, he’s a true representative of our migrant workers,” she said.

“The government should be celebrating these brilliant people who give everything to care for our loved ones and keep us healthy. Not demonising, attacking and leaving them vulnerable to exploitation and abuse.” View image in fullscreen Shabana Mahmood is facing calls to abandon proposals that would require migrant care workers to wait 15 years before qualifying for indefinite leave to remain. Photograph: Wiktor Szymanowicz/Shutterstock A spokesperson said the government was considering more than 200,000 responses to its consultation on earned settlement, including submissions from more than 145,000 people directly affected by the proposals.

“It would not have been appropriate to prioritise the views of a single individual while the responses to this are being considered,” the spokesperson added. “The home secretary hoped that the meeting could go ahead regardless. However, Unison’s general secretary cancelled.” The dispute comes amid pressure on Mahmood to abandon proposals that would force migrant care workers to wait 15 years before qualifying for indefinite leave to remain, rather than the five years they had expected.

Under the proposed “earned settlement” system, the standard qualifying period would double from five to 10 years, with workers in lower-paid occupations, including social care, facing a 15-year wait. For Kolade, the row encapsulates what he believes is missing from the immigration debate: the voices of those whose lives could be upended by its policies. He has watched politicians dismiss care work as low-skilled and portray migrant workers as a burden on the British economy.

“I was just going to tell her that is not correct,” he said. “We are not a burden to the British state. We are also contributing as much as we can, supporting British families. “She talked about fairness to the British people. I was going to tell her that caring for British families is our own little way to show that we are contributing, and that we have earned our rights to stay in this country, a place we’re currently calling home.” Kolade describes care work as the “most honourable work anybody can do”, a conviction shaped by his father’s death from diabetes when he was about 20.

His father had concealed the severity of his illness, instructing the family not to tell Kolade until he had finished his university exams. But he died just a day before his final exam. View image in fullscreen Kolade has said his job as a care worker is ‘the most honourable work anybody can do’. Photograph: Graeme Robertson/The Guardian “Losing my dad at that age … created a vacuum, a space in my life to care for people,” he said. “When I started caring in the UK, I see everybody I care for from the lens I would see my dad.

And this is what I would have said to Shabana Mahmood: I would give my best to that person as if I had a second chance to look after my dad.” Kolade rejected the suggestion migrant care workers were simply waiting to secure permanent residency before abandoning the sector. Many were investing in qualifications to build long-term careers in British social care, he said. “On the day that Shabana cancelled the meeting, one of us put on the group that he had just finished his NVQ 4 and passed with distinction.

We were all very happy,” he said. “People are developing themselves within the industry so they can take up more senior roles. So the fear around: ‘Oh, they’re just going to leave the sector’ – that’s not what we are saying.” But he warned the proposals could push experienced workers to countries offering greater security. “I have a few years to my ILR [indefinite leave to remain], and so if they say: ‘Oh, you have to stay 15 years,’ I have to evaluate the other options I have.

Today, Ireland, Canada and Australia are asking for people with my skill. “So you would have trained people and then you would lose them to these countries.” Kolade moved to Britain in 2022 with his wife, who is also a care worker, and two children. One of his children recently asked him: “If you don’t win, are we going to go back to Nigeria?” “I couldn’t explain what was going to happen to us,” Kolade said. “This is our home right now.

This is what we know at the moment. Our kids know this place already.” Despite the cancelled meeting, Kolade remains committed to Unison’s campaign for a five-year route to settlement, sector-wide visas allowing care workers to change employers without risking their immigration status, and fair pay. “Confidence is never down,” he said. “We are going hard. We are not stopping until we have everything we have on our list.” Explore more on these topics UK news Immigration and asylum Care workers Shabana Mahmood Social care Unison Home Office features Share Reuse this content