UK Immigration and the Labour Government – what do we know so far?

Skills England

One of Labour's manifesto pledges was to reduce net migration and to nurture talent from within the UK by identifying and addressing the skills gaps.  This came as no surprise considering the number of work visas granted have reportedly increased by 78% from March 2022 to March 2024.

On 22 July 2024 the Government announced the launch of Skills England.  It will take on the functions from the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education and will provide strategic oversight of the post-16 skills system and, by working closely with the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), support local areas to develop the skilled workforces they need.   Skills England will also identify the training for which the Growth and Skills levy will be accessible, giving businesses more flexibility to spend levy funds on training for the skills they need.

Labour's vision is that this should in turn reduce net migration and the need to recruit migrant workers.  The construction and healthcare industries will be on the key priority list for such training to fill the skills gaps within the UK.

Migration Advisory Committee commissioned to review IT and engineering sectors

On 6 August 2023, the Government commissioned MAC to review key occupations to understand the reasons for their reliance on international recruitment, with a view to developing a more structured and evidence-based approach to the labour market, as well as Skills England's strategy as set out above.  MAC has been given 9 months to prepare its report.

In particular, MAC has been asked to look at the information technology and telecommunications professionals as well as engineering professionals.  The review will consider questions such as:

• What types of roles are in shortage?
• What are the different drivers of these shortages including training, pay and conditions?
• How have the sectors sought to respond and adapt to these shortages, beyond seeking to recruit from overseas?
• Where relevant, what, if any, impact has being on the shortage occupation list had on these sectors/occupations?
• If there are any policy levers within the immigration system which could be used more effectively to incentivise sectors to focus on recruiting from the domestic workforce? This could include whether the Immigration Salary List (ISL) – where the 20% discount has now been removed on the going rates - should remain in its current form.

In other news…

From 6 August 2024, anyone with a biometric residence permit (BRP) which expires on 31 December 2024, can now create a UKVI account and access their eVisa.  An eVisa is an online record of an individual's immigration status and the conditions of their permission to enter or stay in the UK.  The account should be created before the expiry date of the BRP.  A travel document, passport or visa application reference number can be used to create the account as an alternative – for example, if the BRP card has been lost.  If someone has permission to stay in the UK then, once they have created their UKVI account, they will be able to sign in to the view and prove service to access their eVisa.

The Home Office is in the process of writing to individuals to update them about the eVisa process.  However, it will be worth signposting any employees with BRPs expiring on 31 December 2024 to the relevant Government website so that they can take the appropriate action as soon as possible.