UK government proposes linking skills and training to sponsoring migrant workers

Sir Keir Starmer, in a Downing Street speech on migration in late November, announced plans to publish a white paper on linking the ability to sponsor migrant workers with training provisions to ensure they are aligned with the needs of the economy and close the "skills gap", while simultaneously reducing legal migration. 

The prime minister said that the government would publish a white paper "imminently" that would set out the government's plan to reduce immigration and that the Migration Advisory Committee was already conducting a review. He stated: "Where we find clear evidence of sectors that are over reliant on immigration we will reform the points-based system and make sure that applications for the relevant visa routes whether it’s the skilled worker route, or the shortage occupation list will now come with new expectations on training people here in our country."

This will ensure that where skills shortages lead to a sector remaining on the shortage occupation list – which is now known as the immigration salary list  – there is a plan to upskill workers in the UK to fill the gap. Initial steps to show that this plan was coming into fruition were made in August when the Migration Advisory Committee was commissioned to look at the IT and engineering sectors.

What does this mean for employers?

This proposal does not set an overall migration target, but it indicates the current government's level of commitment to reducing reliance on overseas workers by sponsor licence holders. Employers could see changes to the (already reduced) shortage occupations as listed on the immigration salary list as well as potentially additional responsibilities in relation to upskilling resident workers.

Skills England are aiming to work closely with official migration advisers to develop training plans for the sectors that are currently reliant on immigrants to fill roles, with the aim to increase employment opportunities for UK nationals.

Osborne Clarke comment

What is clear is that the UK government, before it embarks on a long and complicated journey of linking  skills and visa policy, will need to understand where the gaps are and how best to upskill resident workers in those areas – which will be neither quick nor easy.  

The linking proposal has been in the pipeline for a while, but the prime minister has declined to put a timetable on how exactly this policy would be implemented and how quickly the policy would take to reduce migration. It is also expected that the Skills England agency launched in July will take up to a year to become fully established.  

We do, however, anticipate that employers will need to demonstrate their commitment to upskilling their existing workforce or at least the domestic workforce before being able to sponsor someone from overseas. Whether this will be a simple rebranding of the former Resident Labour Market Test or not is yet to be seen, but likely similar in its purpose but more complex in its implementation. 

For businesses that are reliant on overseas skilled workers, it would be wise to begin to look at recruitment processes and identify where skills could be built and developed before turning to overseas recruitment.