Peers of all parties in the House of Lords have strongly criticised what they say is the Home Office’s failure to consider the impact of cutting 180 occupations from the Skilled Worker visa and the decision to close the Health and Care worker route to overseas workers.
Lords on the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee, a select committee, have argued that changes to the immigration rules that took effect on 22 July will likely have “significant economic effects” that have not been properly considered.
Their report claimed that immigration minister Seema Malhotra had not provided adequate information on the latest changes, stating that it was “inexplicable, and inexcusable” that “useful information” was not included in the policy’s Explanatory Memorandum.
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The Lords said that this lack of useful information suggested that the measures in the statement were formed before their impact had been fully analysed and understood, leading to a risk that the results may be different from what the department was expecting. This risk was exacerbated by the lack of a consultation, the lords stated.
“This is a sub-optimal way to make policy and is a concern we have raised with the Home Office in the recent past,” they said.
The lords’ comments mirror those of immigration experts. Earlier this month, Zeena Luchowa, partner at immigration law firm Laura Devine Immigration, said the speed of the immigration white paper’s implementation was “alarming”.
“To apply some of the key proposals set out in the white paper so swiftly, without due consultation with stakeholders nor adequate consideration of the impact on essential sectors, is alarming,” she said.
The changes closed the Health and Care Worker visa to new overseas applicants for care workers and senior care worker roles, effectively ending overseas recruitment in social care.
These changes will have far-reaching effects on the UK economy” – Dr Dora-Oliva Vicol, Work Rights Centre
They also suddenly raised the required skills threshold for occupations eligible to sponsor people on the Skilled Worker visa to RQF level 6, meaning that new applicants must have the equivalent of a graduate degree, alongside minimum salary thresholds increased across the board. This means that 180 occupations, such as chefs and driving instructors, have been removed from the list of those eligible to be sponsored.
A Temporary Shortage List was introduced as a replacement for the current Immigration Salary List, to carve out a short-term pathway for employers to sponsor overseas workers for select roles that fall below this new, higher threshold.
These occupations may be reviewed when the government sees fit, leading to concerns that workers on this list could face a “cliff-edge” situation where they are unexpectedly denied the ability to make an extension of settlement application. The scrutiny committee agreed that important questions around the Temporary Shortage List remain unanswered.
The Lords report stated: “We consider these are likely to be significant economic effects, and we do not agree that they are ‘indirect’. Perhaps the greatest effects will be felt in the care sector, where the changes conflict with other pressures such as the need to ensure adequate staffing and the reported high number of vacancies. These changes may therefore be especially controversial.”
This report comes in response to an evidence submission from charity the Work Rights Centre, seeking to draw the watchdog’s attention to changes.
Founder of the Work Rights Centre Dr Dora-Oliva Vicol said: “These changes will have far-reaching effects on the UK economy, on the quality of care our elderly people receive, on the lives of migrant workers and their families, who are left worrying for their future in the UK. Rushing them through without due consideration is reckless.
She added: “This report adds weight to our concern that the government lacks a plan for safeguarding migrant workers. This sudden closure of the Health and Care worker will make no difference for the tens of thousands of migrant workers who came to the UK in good faith and were exploited. They are still here, on this deeply flawed visa scheme that ties them to their employer. What they need is the freedom to take their skills to an employer that values them.”
The role of the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee is to examine the policy merits of statutory instruments and other types of secondary legislation that are subject to parliamentary procedure.
Personnel Today has contacted the Home Office for its response to the Lords’ report.
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