Changing Society Briefing 10: The rise and fall of immigration and its impact on charities

Introduction

This is the tenth in the Heyheyjoe briefing series, looking at external social, economic, and demographic changes and their impact on charities and non-profit organisations. This one focuses on immigration and how changing migration levels and the politics of migration affect charities and non-profits.

Migration into the UK has two sides to it: the pull or recruitment of people into the UK, and the push of people who wish to leave their home country.

The changing levels of migration into the UK

Figure 1 shows the immigration (people coming in), emigration (people leaving) and the net migration levels for the UK between 2012 and 2024. As we left the EU, net migration dropped from about 250k a year in 2015 to around 100k in 2021. However, the government changed the rules in 2022 onwards, and the number of migrants skyrocketed, while the number of emigrants dropped, meaning that net migrantion also skyrocketed.

Where people are pulled into the UK

Immigration is driven by our ageing population

An ageing population means the balance of the population changes, with more people of pension age and fewer people in paid work (see briefings 1 and 2). This changing balance, combined with a drop in the fertility rate (i.e., the number of children for each woman) over the last few decades, means that there are fewer ‘employees’ in the UK while the number of jobs to look after older people only increases, because older people require more medical care, more social care and generally more support.

Immigration is driven by our need for low-paid workers.

There are many challenges to an ageing population, but one of them is fewer people to work in social care and the NHS, in manual labour roles like farming, and in other roles caring for pensioners, or other parts of our society. So we have recruited migrants to work in this country to fill the vacancies that there are either too few people to fill, or they are reluctant to fill (for diverse reasons, from living in the wrong place or being over-educated or not wanting to jobs like work in care homes)

Immigration for the lure of high-paid, high-skilled jobs

For those who get an education in other (less wealthy) countries, the opportunities for well-paid jobs that match their education may be limited. For this reason, the prospect of a well-paid job in a developed country has great appeal. So when the Boris Johnson government changed the immigration rules, there was a rush of migrants (greatly exceeding those leaving as we left the EU).

Where people are pushed away from their home countries

Immigration is driven by the situation in the home country

War, conflict, economic mismanagement, authoritarian governments and many other issues all mean that people may want to leave a country. Life in their home countries is, for whatever reason, impossible or unsustainable. Many of these people become illegal immigrants, though some of the largest number of illegal immigrants to the UK come from Eritrea, Albania and Vietnam, where conflict is minimal, so it may be political freedom as much as economic freedom, or both, that cause people to leave.

Immigration is driven by the lure of a better life.

Where the economic situation in a country is poor, it may well be the reason for people to leave a country. There are no jobs at home, even poorly paid jobs in the remittance economy elsewhere are worth migrating for. Some countries get a huge economic boost from the payments from nationals overseas. For example, around half of Tajikistan's economy’s income comes from migrant labour in Russia. While no single country dominates remittances from the UK, work and money are, without doubt, a huge part of why people migrate.

People also come into this country for a host of other reasons: a degree education (though they typically go home again), for love (I speak as the father-in-law of my son’s Colombian wife) and for family unification. Migration is a massively complex issue, and this briefing only highlights the bare bones of the issues.

The implications for charities

The issues with migration impact on charities in several ways.

Migrants often fill frontline charity jobs.

Because of the nature of services that many charities run, many will likely employ people who are migrants (i.e., not born in this country). This is particularly the case in social care, residential care and health care. If the number of migrants is restricted or the type of visas granted to migrants is changed, then charities may find it more difficult to find staff to deliver services.

Migrants often are the people that charities are created to help

Many charities exist solely to help refugees, asylum seekers and migrants, and others deliver services to these groups as part of their wider services. This means that the ebb and flow of migrant numbers is hugely important to these charities, not least because it changes the demand for services and may also change the funding available.

High levels of migration create closer political attention.

Migrants and migrations have been a growing source of political interest and attention over the last decade and more. In the UK, this manifests itself in support for political parties like Reform. It also results in many personal attacks on migrants – verbal, physical and economic. As charities are one of the groups that help migrants, right-wing politicians have taken to criticising charities for the support they give to migrants. One example of this is how Nigel Farage has attacked the RNLI for rescuing people crossing the channel in boats.

Joe Saxton

April 2026

This briefing is part of a series looking at the impact of social, economic, technological, and demographic changes on charities and non-profit organisations. We have already published briefings on:

·      the ageing population (briefing no 1)

·      changing numbers of single people and fertility rates (no 2)

·      the impact of growing government debt (no 3).

·      Changes in the way we die and its implications. (no 4)

·      wealth, inequality and poverty in the UK (no 5)

·      changing patterns of religious observance (no 6)

·      The rise of consumer choice and its implications for charities (no 7)

·      How individuals triumph over policy in a post-truth world (no 8)

·      The growth in leisure spending and its impact on charities (no 9)

In future issues, we will look at the impact of digital, AI, and changing patterns of support for different causes. Go to www.heyheyjoe.info for more information.