Companies which care for elderly and vulnerable people will face a recruitment crisis if the government takes steps to curb immigration after Brexit, says one of the county's top experts.

Nadra Ahmed, chairman of the Medway-based National Care Association, warned some care providers could be put out of business if there is a reduction in migrant workers.

It comes after Prime Minister Theresa May confirmed a change in the government’s immigration policy after Brexit.

She said there will be no special treatment of EU nationals and an end to low-skilled migration.

She also confirmed there will not be special exemptions for different sectors with the exception of an arrangement for seasonal farm workers.

Nadra Ahmed said the new policy would hit the care industry at a time when demand for it was growing.

“The concern for us will be that we know that social care is reliant on staff from abroad," she said.

"Despite the fact that the majority are British, we are dependent on EU nationals and non-EU nationals for about 18% of the workforce.

"So, without having some dispensation to recruit, we will see a drop in people working in social care and the ability of social care providers to recruit to fulfill their commitments to vulnerable people.

“Without an exemption scheme we are putting vulnerable people at risk.

"If we look at the statistics, at any one time there are 110,000 vacancies in the care sector and 76,000 are in social care - that means that there are huge numbers of people not able to receive care.

"How are we going to find these people?

“If you have these job vacancies in job centres, you can’t magic up these people and you can’t recruit from abroad - it is very short-sighted not to recognise that.”

Asked if there was already evidence of EU nationals leaving to return home, she said: “Absolutely - people are returning home because the economic factor in the strength of the pound has edged away, as well as people feeling they are not welcome and uncertainty over whether they will be allowed to stay.”

A key issue was many workers were wrongly described as unskilled when they were actually highly skilled, she said.

Figures suggest the number of people in Kent aged 65 or over will rise to 332,200 by 2020. In 2015, the figure was 101,000.