A probe into the so-called “cash for care jobs scandal” by a newspaper found operators exploit Home Office loopholes with some charging applicants “work finder fees” of up to £20,000.

The cash is said to guarantee a “100 per cent” success rate in obtaining a visa to live and work in the UK, according to the Daily Mail.

The NCA has now urged the Home Office to strengthen English language requirements and follow-up on visits to homes using foreign care workers.

The immigration law change saw the total number of foreign workers given permission to come to Britain hit a record high last year.

Alongside the surge of overseas workers into the care sector, there was also an “explosion” of operators making money from using migrant care staff as “cash cows”, the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority said.

One “adviser” told an undercover reporter that for £9,000 he could help her arrange a job in just three days.

Nadra Ahmed, chairman of the National Care Association, said she was aware of the extensive abuse of the system after the visa rules were altered.

She said: “We’re seeing agencies sprouting up that are just bringing people in for the purpose of taking money off them.

“They’re not checking their skills or making sure they have the relevant training. In some cases workers are sleeping 14 to a room and having to pay back money they hadn’t expected.

“We have to stop a practice where vulnerable people are looking after vulnerable people. It’s exploitation with terrible consequences for the social care industry and the people that we, as a society, are supposed to be caring for.”

More to follow…