Last week, the Prime Minister launched an immigration white paper with major changes to overseas recruitment. Ross Kennedy examines which jobs are likely to be affected and how employers should react.
The government published its long-awaited immigration white paper this month, setting out changes to its plans for immigration policy and rules. These are wide-ranging and will directly affect employers and workers.
The headline changes include:
- ending sponsorship of new care workers from overseas;
- raising minimum skill level to sponsor Skilled Workers to RQF6 (degree level in skill rather than educational attainment);
- limited, temporary sponsorship for lower-skilled shortage jobs for key sectors with workforce strategies around training, pay and conditions;
- increasing the annual immigration skills charge by 32%;
- raising minimum level for English language ability from ‘intermediate user’ to ‘independent user’
- shortening the graduate visa to 18 months; and
- doubling the time it takes to qualify to settle permanently to ten years
The changes likely to have the biggest impact are the government’s choice to allow only the highest skilled migration, and the double-whammy cost increase in the immigration skills charge and doubling the duration of sponsorship needed to be allowed to stay permanently (which means twice the skills charge, twice the health surcharge and visa extension fees to boot).
Who will be affected?
Private and public sector employers across every sector may be hit with higher sponsorship costs and will have to reevaluate recruitment, retention and training strategies. The social care sector will no doubt be hit the worst if access to visa sponsorship is taken away entirely.
There were an estimated 131,000 vacancies in adult social care in 2024. After a recent crackdown on employers exploiting care workers, many sponsors lost their licence and there was a pool of around 39,000 care workers already in the UK in need of new visa sponsorship.
Immigration white paper
It will still be possible for employers to sponsor care workers from this pool, or those who are already in the UK with working rights, but it will not be possible to bring any new care workers from abroad.
The increase in the minimum skill level to sponsor skilled workers will be a major change. I have counted 171 professions that would no longer qualify in the immigration rules.
The sectors with the most jobs affected are hospitality, construction and retail, though a vast array of occupations have been deemed not skilled enough.
There are too many roles to list in full here, but by way of example:
- Scientists and engineers, yes – lab and engineering technicians, no
- Managers in manufacturing, construction and energy, yes – managers in retail, hospitality, healthcare and logistics, no
- Business development managers, yes – sales executives or associates, no
- Creative sector directors and producers, yes – entertainers, dancers and musicians, no.
There is a full list of the jobs that will no longer qualify for sponsoring from abroad here. They include aircraft technicians, butchers, clothing designers, data analysts, estate agents, fishmongers, gardeners, HR officers, interior designers, joiners, plasterers, plumbers and publicans.
The sheer extent will be of concern to many UK employers and will doubtless affect hiring policies, business costs and investment.
Analysis published by the government in a technical annexe to the white paper estimates these have recently accounted for 23% of skilled worker visas granted.
Is there any good news in the immigration white paper?
We have no indication when applicants from overseas will be hit by the new skills requirements, but workers already on the skilled worker route in these jobs can be reassured that they will be allowed to continue extending their visa, change employment and take supplementary employment, including in occupations below RQF6.
Some sectors will benefit from a temporary reprieve from the new skill level hike if occupations in critical shortage are put on a new Temporary Shortage List.
The government has already mentioned that the construction sector and other industries crucial to UK priorities and infrastructure projects may have roles included on the Temporary Shortage List.
This requires sectors to demonstrate a workforce strategy around training, pay and conditions, which employers will be expected to comply with in order to sponsor overseas workers. The idea is that resident workers will be trained up to eventually stop reliance on immigrants.
The white paper says there will be shortcuts to settlement in less than 10 years for those who “contribute” the greatest to society and the economy – which may mean NHS workers, scientists and other talent on the government’s priorities (and payroll).
Meanwhile, the government is keen to encourage highly skilled people to work in high-tech, high-growth sectors.
The white paper trails measures such as increasing places for research interns, expanding the global talent visa for scientific and design talent, making it easier for entrepreneurial students to apply for the innovator founder visa and doubling how many workers can be brought in as expansion workers to establish a UK branch.
For employers concerned about lower-skilled hires, there may be some encouragement from reports that the whole of the EU may be added to countries that currently have Youth Mobility Scheme agreements with the UK.
Most of these reciprocal agreements allow Brits aged 18-30 to work for up to two years (in some cases three years and up to the age of 35) in another country and vice versa.
Some sectors will benefit from a temporary reprieve from the new skill level hike if occupations in critical shortage are put on a new Temporary Shortage List.
There is likely to be a cap on how many will be able to come here from the continent, and like other schemes, visas are likely to be very limited in duration.
In the latest available figures, just 24,437 young people came into the UK as part of such schemes in 2024 – so not currently a major workforce impact.
What can employers do in the short and long term?
There are few details of the timeframe of these measures. We know they will happen within this parliament, some measures within weeks. Some will need consultations or even primary legislation in parliament, others will not.
There may not be much notice for many of these measures, so employers should keep their eyes peeled for Statements of Changes and other immigration announcements.
Workers already here on routes can be offered some reassurance, though some now are likely to face a longer route to settlement, depending on how generous the government feels with transitional measures.
There are certain things employers can do to get ahead of any changes. The Home Office is likely to anticipate a surge of applications for skilled worker jobs likely to be deemed too low-skilled.
It would be prudent for sponsors to move quickly and ensure a sufficient allocation of sponsorship certificates for such roles. However, the Home Office will want to see specific details of the planned sponsorships and does not like speculative allocation requests.
In some cases, it may be appropriate to seek immigration advice on other work or personal immigration routes that prospective employees may use.
With costs rising, it may pay to consider sponsoring international students as skilled workers, rather than hiring them on a graduate visa.
Unlike graduate visa holders, students switching straight to skilled worker visas are exempt from the immigration skills charge for the duration of their sponsorship in the same role and for the same employer, with potentially massive savings for employers.
There will be engagement and consultations with sectors facing long-term labour shortages, so I would advise employers to engage with their sector bodies when the time comes to influence the content of these strategies to best support the sector.
Workforce strategies necessary to be included on the Temporary Shortage List are intended to support training and recruitment from the UK workforce, with the goal that there will be no need to recruit from overseas at all.
Investing in training in such cases will be necessary to ensure employers are not left unprepared when that day comes.
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