Red tape caused by change in ownership of care home means staff are in limbo, not knowing if admin will be completed by October deadline
Burlington Court Care home in Cranhill, in the East End of Glasgow (Photo by ANDY BUCHANAN/AFP via Getty Images)
The Home Office faces calls to remove a deportation axe from a group of 15 vital workers at a Scottish care home.
The Daily Record told how the workers at Burlington Court Care Home in Glasgow are facing potential removal from the UK due to a red tape crisis.
Certificates of Sponsorship for the qualified carers, who have worked in Scotland for years, were cancelled because their employment was transferred to a new company after one went into administration.
The women were told by the Home Office they will not be able to keep doing their jobs at Burlington Court in Glasgow without valid, updated certificates.
MSP Paul Sweeney is backing union bosses who are are demanding an urgent rethink on the case, as the workers are not at fault and merely a victim of a complex system.
Staff members have been told they have until October for employers to get paperwork in order.
(Image: Alasdair MacLeod/Daily Record)
Paul Sweeney said: “It is ludicrous that an administration change now means that vital care workers are facing deportation through no fault of their own. “Representatives in the care sector frequently tell me that staff shortages have impacted their ability to operate, and overseas staff have been essential in keeping care homes open, caring for the vulnerable. “My colleague Maureen Burke MP and I are working at pace to resolve this administrative error with the Home Office.”
The GMB union says the Home Office must take pause for a rethink until the admin mess is sorted out.
One woman who was returning to the UK from a visit to her homeland Nigeria, was held by Border Force and told she would be deported within days. The woman was given a reprieve after the Daily Record alerted the injustice to the Home Office.
Kirsty Nimmo, GMB Scotland organiser in care, said: “Social care protecting some of the most vulnerable Scots is built on the commitment and skills of workers from overseas.
Kirsty Nimmo, credit Andrew Cawley
“These workers deserve our respect and gratitude not to be treated with such casual cruelty as if their lives mean nothing at all.”
The Home Office wrote to the staff involved earlier this month to say their permission to stay in the UK as skilled workers had been cancelled and they would be required to leave the country in October.
The permission to stay was cancelled because no application for a new sponsor licence was made within a 20 day deadline after staff were transferred to a new employer under UK TUPE procedures.
The woman who had been ordered to board a deportation flight on Monday has worked at care homes in Glasgow for several years.
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The worker, who asked not to be identified, said: “I went home for as three week vacation and when I got back to Gatwick Airport I was taken to a room and told my right to remain had been cancelled.
“I was shocked and I couldn’t believe what was happening to me, as I am scheduled to work on Monday and the residents need me.
“This all seems to be very heavy handed for what is a paperwork problem. I have been extremely worried and I just pray that they can sort it all out.”
Care homes have been badly affected by staff shortages in recent years and migrant staff have been fundamental to keeping the facilities running.
A spokesperson for Enhance – the care home company that took over Burlington Court – said: “Enhance acquired Burlington Care Home on 21 August 2025. Since that date, Enhance has been made aware of engagement from the Home Office to a number of staff at Burlington Care Home. Enhance is working with the Home Office and the Unions to resolve this matter.”
A Home Office spokesperson said: “It is our long-standing policy not to comment on individual cases.”