Firms will have to ‘train British workers’ under immigration plans
UK firms will reportedly have to train British workers if they wish to hire staff from abroad as part of government efforts to lessen the economy’s reliance on mass immigration.
Firms have lowered expectations for investment in training, according to a number of recent surveys, given the UK’s bleak economic outlook for the year ahead.
But The Times reported that Labour’s immigration white paper, due to be unveiled in parliament within weeks, will set out strategies to make firms hire more Brits.
Employers will not be allowed to take in foreign workers if they fail to offer training to staff in Britain, with specific sectors such as engineering and IT to be given what has been referred to as “workforce strategies”.
These plans are expected to be spelled out by relevant government departments. The Department for Business and Trade and the Treasury are expected to reveal the government’s industrial strategy within weeks, which is likely to cover labour and job opportunities.
The immigration white paper will also make criteria for worker visas stricter, according to The Times.
Immigrants will have to show they speak and understand a higher standard of English equivalent to a foreign language A-level.
The plans come as part of efforts to bring down net migration levels, which hit 728,000 in the year to June last year.
Tory government reforms focussed on changing visa rules, which increased the minimum salary to be sponsored for a ‘skilled worker’ visa from £26,200 to £38,700, have already had some effect in bringing applications down, according to Oxford University’s Migration Observatory.
Immigration checks to be ‘smart and controlled’
Home secretary Yvette Cooper is believed to be sensitive to any reforms that could raise net migration levels, including possible plans to agree a youth mobility scheme with the European Union.
Nick Thomas-Symonds told the Financial Times this week that the scheme would be “smart and controlled”. A separate report suggested there were differences between the UK government and the European Union’s position on the scheme.
The EU is reportedly demanding that its students are able to pay the same fees as Brits to attend universities in the UK.
Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) chief executive Neil Carberry told CityAM last month that such a scheme would help boost London’s reputation as a magnet for talent and high skill jobs.
“It embeds major companies based in London, underpinning the UK position as a financial services and professional services leader with the second biggest exposure of professional services in the world,” Carberry said.
Meanwhile, reducing small boat crossings and curbing illegal migration will also be on the government’s radar.
The National Audit Office tripled its projection for the cost of accommodating asylum seekers to £15.3bn by 2029, putting tight public finances under greater strain and risking further backlash from voters who fund hotel accommodation through taxes.
The report suggested that hotel providers who have signed government contracts, namely the likes of Serco and Mears Group, could see their profits surge by the end of the decade due to the lack of “levers” available to the Home Office.