Migration and the Marketisation of Social Care: The Employment of Migrant Workers under Cash-for-Care Schemes in the UK

Overview

This research built on COMPAS research on the role of migrant care workers in ageing societies. It examined the direct employment of migrant workers by older people under cash-for-care schemes in the UK. These schemes give older people and other care users who are entitled to publicly subsidised social care the option of receiving a cash payment that can be used to directly employ a care worker. Cash-for-care schemes have been adopted across western welfare states and are seen as central to enabling greater ‘choice and control’ for care users over their care. The research explored the interconnections between these developments in social care and migration by analysing the dynamics of choice and control in relation to the experiences of care users and migrant care workers.