Migration advisers get tough on pleas for foreign labour

Migration advisers have rejected two-thirds of jobs proposed for overseas recruitment after ruling plans to train more UK workers were too “weak”.

The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) recommended 28 of 82 occupations put forward by employers and government departments should be eligible for skilled worker visas from January.

But the rest were ruled out after it concluded evidence of skills shortages was too weak and that many of the newly designed “jobs plans” failed to show how sectors would significantly increase the supply of UK-trained staff.

Under policies set out in the immigration white paper last year, the government promised to curb UK employers’ reliance on foreign recruitment by forcing them to agree to workforce strategies that address homegrown shortages with training.

The move is part of Labour’s 2024 manifesto pledge to “restore control” to the immigration system by linking it with skills policy.

Ministers asked the MAC, a non-departmental public body, to recommend which “medium skilled” jobs – at levels 3 to 5 – needed for the UK’s nine high-priority sectors should be permitted for recruitment through skilled worker visas.

Lead government departments for each of the priority sectors are understood to have drawn up “occupation-level” jobs plans, which they shared with the committee in February, alongside submissions from employers and sector bodies.

The MAC’s final report on which jobs should be added to the temporary shortage list from January advised the Home Office that two-thirds of the shortlisted occupations did not meet the criteria.

Too weak, too broad

The committee found that while some jobs plans made a strong case for overseas recruitment, the evidence used to prove there was an urgent, short-term need to recruit from abroad was “generally weak” and too often focused on “broad, sector-level trends”.

Several plans failed to project what the domestic supply of workers would be in coming years, and those that did focused on apprenticeships because the data is “more readily available”, without considering other routes such as progression from lower-skilled roles, retraining, FE provision and career changers.

Employers also appear to be “free riding” by expecting others to invest in training and upskilling their workforce, the committee said.

It added that very few actions set out in the plans “provided any sense” of what impact they would have on the supply of domestic workers.

The MAC also said it was difficult to consider who should be responsible for addressing a workforce shortage where “several actors and exogenous factors” were at play, including “bottlenecks” such as further education training capacity, low investment in training and poor working conditions.

It questioned whether employers should be penalised for such issues “if they acted as far as they reasonably could?”

Just two jobs plans published

In total, 47 businesses and representative bodies made submissions, containing 268 cases for occupations to be eligible for visas.

The final decision on which occupations will be added to the government’s ‘temporary shortage list’ for overseas recruitment will be made by the Home Office.

But because many plans failed to set out evidence showing a genuine shortage in the UK or needed “time to be improved”, the 28 proposed occupations are only recommended for 18 months rather than three years, as originally intended.

The MAC’s assessment said it gave the benefit of the doubt to borderline cases because it was the first time the exercise had been conducted.

It is estimated the 28 recommended occupations will result in about 4,000 skilled worker visas being issued each year, compared to 10,000 if all 82 occupations were approved by the Home Office.

During a peak in the use of skilled worker visas in 2023, the Home Office granted more than 62,000 in one quarter, 45,000 of which were for health and care roles.

Skills policy expert Tom Bewick said: “It’s good to see the MAC getting more muscular when it comes to advising ministers on which occupations should be granted skilled visas on the shortage lists.

“It’s quite clear from the plans they have scrutinised that most of the so-called shortages have been caused by the lack of domestic employer investment in the trades going back decades.

“It makes a mockery of the points-based immigration system if business keeps on coming back with the same flimsy arguments.”

The MAC report exposes a “complete lack of coordination between government departments, Skills England and the FE sector”, he added.

Government departments have also been drawing up sector-level jobs plans for each of the nine “growth-driving” industrial strategies announced earlier this year.

The occupation-level jobs plans submitted to the MAC are “distinct” from the sector-level jobs plans but can be seen as an “internal draft”, the MAC said.

Despite the government’s original aim to publish all sector jobs plans this summer, only two full plans have been published, with seven still “being developed”.

‘No confidence’ in some plans

Occupations recommended by the MAC for overseas staff include ship and hovercraft officers for the clean energy sector; engineering technicians to work in advanced manufacturing; and bricklayers for construction and critical infrastructure.

The committee rejected seven occupations, including laboratory technicians and marketing associate professionals, because evidence showed they were “not in shortage”.

Seven occupations were found to be in shortage, including air conditioning installers and logistics managers, but were not recommended because the MAC had “no confidence” in plans to train up domestic workers.

The Treasury and Ministry of Defence did not submit plans for jobs in their sectors due to what the committee called a “conscious decision” based on their assessment of need and whether the occupations would pass the “criteria for access”.

This included jobs such as financial accounts managers, insurance underwriters and bookkeepers.

A government spokesperson said: “Net migration has fallen by 74 per cent under this government, and we have already denied more than 100 occupations access to overseas recruitment.

“This government is putting British workers first, ending the reliance on cheap overseas labour while welcoming the high-skilled talent our economy needs.

“The report is a further step in that work, and we will carefully consider the findings before responding in due course.”