Late in September, Liz Truss announced a formal review of the way the UK visa scheme operates.
In his latest article, Employment Partner Paul Burton looks at the proposed changes, considers who they’ll benefit and discusses their impact on businesses.
Why is the UK Visa Scheme being reviewed?
There is, as any recruiter will know at the moment, a significant gap between the number of jobs available and the applicants to fill them.
Several of our contacts have mentioned having applicants who simply do not turn up for interview – presumably because they got better offers between the invite to, and day of, the interview.
What changes are proposed?
As part of the proposals, the Prime Minster would look to amend the so-called “shortage occupation list”, which currently includes a significant number of health and social care roles.
The proposed changes would allow employers to sponsor workers coming to the UK as a means to fill the skills gap.
What is Scale-Up Visa?
Under the current model, the so-called Scale-Up Visa allows a worker to come to the UK to do an eligible job in a rapidly expanding business.
There are job requirements, English proficiency skills and the visa itself strictly only lasts for 2 years, after which a worker can extend the visa or, after five years, apply for indefinite leave to remain.
Issues with Scale-Up Visa
The job requirements are among the most restrictive aspects of the scheme. The business must meet Home Office approval before it can offer the support to a foreign worker, which means meeting both the business definition and, separately, the job specification itself.
What’s changing?
Under the current scheme, some two-thirds of the total permissible visas were issued within the first six months. Raising that cap may well be one of the first changes from the review, along with reviewing the six-month period which initially applies to the job.
How will the changes to the Visa Scheme impact businesses?
The prospect of a wider talent-pool, or at very least new sectors being eligible for the scheme, may well be welcome news to employers struggling to fill roles.
There is no question that the workforce coming from overseas has reduced drastically in recent years or that this has had an impact on the recruitment problems faced by many sectors.
What problems might arise?
The obvious problem is that recruiting by this method is simply a layer of bureaucracy and costs which will need to be spent on recruitment.
The majority of those businesses struggling are in the sectors of social care and hospitality, which are already often under-funded and looking for lower-paid workers.
Even if the requirements are relaxed or expanded, these sectors are not going to be helped if the cost of joining the scheme runs into thousands of pounds.
Is this a solution?
That said, the relatively smaller recruitment pool is not just a UK issue and the particularly affected sectors are struggling to recruit around the world.
What many may also be saying is that a brief relaxation on immigration rules is not the solution to a broader lack of investment in skills and training.
An Employment Solicitor’s view
Paul Burton, Employment Partner at Frettens, said: “As with any policy, for those businesses this review may ultimately benefit, the opportunity for more non-UK recruitment could be of significant help.
I suspect healthcare will be one of the main beneficiaries under any changes which may emerge, but the exact extent of any review remains to be seen.”
Our advice for employers
Paul continues “Recruitment remains a significant expense both in terms of time and money, so it is important that workers are providing your business value for money and that you do what you can to attract and retain them.
In theory, any widening of the available labour pool benefits all businesses trying to recruit so this is an opportunity to review recruitment and retention strategy whether you intend to make use of the visa scheme or not.”
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