The current government is intent on lowering net migration to the UK. All but eradicating the ability for students and care workers to bring family members with them to the UK are policies already significantly affecting numbers.
The manifestos show both the current and potential incoming Labour government are talking of plans to upskill the domestic workforce, encourage people back into work and developing cross-government task forces to help with recruitment and staffing shortages.
In the meantime, UK employers have the practical reality of needing to quickly fill key roles within their organisation. They need specialist skills and experience, which may not be available from the domestic workforce. Any impact from government upskilling plans is likely to be extremely slow and unlikely to change the stark reality of skills shortages.
The ever-increasing necessity for UK employers to recruit from overseas is shown in the graph below. The latest sponsor data to March 2024 shows a huge and continual growth in the number of employers needing to apply for a Skilled Worker sponsor licence since Brexit. With EU and non-EU citizens needing to be sponsored, more and more employers are applying for a sponsor licence. In 2019 pre-COVID-19 pandemic, 5,735 UK employers applied for a Skilled Worker sponsor licence. In the last 12 months it was 48,411 – a whopping 744% increase.
Skilled Worker sponsor licence applications and UKVI compliance activity
More and more employers, big and small across the country are deciding to apply for a sponsor licence to help them recruit the people they need. The April 2024 increases to Skilled Worker salary thresholds will not stop employers relying on the Skilled Worker system when they can. The reduction in the number of student and care worker family members is a further unknown/unmonitored factor in recruitment problems – as many dependent family members are themselves filling crucial roles.
As shown in the graph, the amount of UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) compliance activity has also been increasing, although not at the rate expected given the increase in the number of sponsors. In the first quarter of 2024 there were 309 sponsor licence suspensions and 210 revocations.
As the data shows, once a sponsor licence is suspended based on UKVI allegations of breaches in sponsor conditions, it can be difficult to persuade UKVI the licence should not be revoked. The best policy for sponsors is to ensure ongoing compliance at all times.
Hopefully an incoming government will recognise the importance of overseas workers in filling skills gaps in the UK and not seek to put scoring political points above the needs of UK employers.
Kingsley Napley does not endorse any political party.
further information
If you have any queries in relation to the above issues or any other immigration matter, please contact a member of the immigration team.
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