Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Right to workBrexitLatest NewsRecruitment & retentionImmigration

Most firms lack information to make post-Brexit staffing decisions

by Ashleigh Webber 20 Sep 2019
by Ashleigh Webber 20 Sep 2019 Image: Shutterstock
Image: Shutterstock

Very few employers are prepared for the introduction of new immigration restrictions, putting them at risk of a labour “supply shock” after the Brexit transition period.

According to the CIPD 56% of employers lacked enough information to make decisions about recruitment of non-UK workers post-Brexit, while 58% did not know anything about the government’s immigration white paper, which was released last year.

Post-Brexit immigration

Polish ambassador advises Poles to leave the UK after Brexit

Priti confusing? Managing sudden immigration changes

Drop in EU migrants prompts urgent call for immigration transition period

It found that a lack of resources to prepare for Brexit, combined with continued uncertainty over the UK’s future relationship with the EU, meant that employers had little interest in the government’s white paper.

Most employers were focused on retaining EU nationals already at their organisations, rather than planning for future recruitment.

CIPD senior labour market adviser Gerwyn Davies said: “Very few employers are ready for the end of free movement and restrictions on immigration in just over a year. Worse still, many seem both daunted and alarmed by the range of restrictions planned and the costs they are likely to incur.”

He said the planned migration restrictions must be phased in to offset the risk of a labour supply shock and to “avoid harming UK competitiveness”.

“We need a set of workable policies that apply across all sectors that are simple, low-cost, fair and user friendly for both employers and non-UK citizens. However, the current timetable and balance is working against the short-term interests of employers and EU citizens,” added Davies.

Meanwhile, an evaluation of government guidance on Brexit for businesses found the information that would allow organisations to plan thoroughly in the event of a no-deal Brexit is still incomplete or insufficient. This includes information relating to staff transfers between the UK and EU and the ability to hire EU nationals in future.

Dr Adam Marshall, director general of the British Chambers of Commerce, which carried out the analysis, said the advice for businesses “is not specific enough to enable firms to plan for an abrupt change”.

The CIPD’s report, Migration: A practical immigration system for post-Brexit Britain, highlights that only 17% of the 2,182 organisations that took part in its spring Labour Market Outlook survey had carried out an audit of the areas of their workforce with a high proportion of EU nationals. Almost three-quarters (72%) employed EU nationals and 52% employed non-EU overseas staff.

Some employers told the CIPD that difficulty in employing EU staff would have a major effect on business decisions. One manufacturer in the south east of England said: ‘If I can’t open a manufacturing site with the right staff in the UK, as we had planned to do, and which now seems very unlikely; then we will be moving our headquarters from London to Germany or Romania … We had planned to relocate our Romanian manufacturing site that employs around 8,000 people to the UK. However, that was before Brexit.”

The report makes several recommendations to ensure that the UK can continue to attract skilled and unskilled labour from overseas. These include:

  • Introducing a two-year mobility scheme for all EU citizens, which would replace the Youth Mobility Scheme for 18 to 30 year olds and the temporary 12-month visa – both of which the CIPD believes will be inadequate. Alternatively, the Youth Mobility Scheme could run alongside a two-year temporary visa scheme
  • Reducing the minimum salary threshold for skilled migrant workers from £30,000 – although the CIPD has not suggested a more suitable salary
  • Abolishing the minimum skill threshold
  • Reducing the cost of employing overseas workers for employers – including taking a closer look at the tiered sponsorship system and the possibility of a transactional “self-service” system
  • Abandoning suggestions for regional schemes, as these would be too complex and would inhibit mobility
  • Extending the intra-company transfers scheme to include intermediate skilled workers
  • Directing funds from the immigration skills charge to the apprenticeship levy.

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

OptOut
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Tom Hadley, director of policy and campaigns at the Recruitment & Employment Confederation, said the report is an “important call to government to listen to what businesses are saying about the difficulty in accessing skills and filling vacancies”.

He said: “The feedback from recruiters is that we are heading towards crisis point, particularly in health and social care, hospitality and food and drink. Meanwhile, 46% of employers told us they are concerned about not being able to fill permanent roles and this will likely worsen coming up to Christmas.”

Ashleigh Webber

Ashleigh is a former editor of OHW+ and former HR and wellbeing editor at Personnel Today. Ashleigh's areas of interest include employee health and wellbeing, equality and inclusion and skills development. She has hosted many webinars for Personnel Today, on topics including employee retention, financial wellbeing and menopause support.

previous post
How to tackle imposter syndrome and ‘modern racism’
next post
Co-op Bank, unions and retailers join global climate emergency strike

You may also like

UK and EU agree to collaborate on ‘youth...

19 May 2025

Labour MPs urge more flexibility with EU over...

24 Apr 2025

Trump’s tariffs to hit growth and jobs, warn...

3 Apr 2025

Youth mobility scheme on the table for Starmer...

21 Feb 2025

Sharp decline in net migration as fewer dependants...

28 Nov 2024

Qualified support for Reeves after Mansion House speech

15 Nov 2024

Why ministers must restore the EU youth mobility...

21 Oct 2024

Barriers to workers getting qualifications recognised in EU

2 Jul 2024

SNP manifesto: NHS investment and rejoining the EU

19 Jun 2024

Seasonal farm worker brings tribunal case over unpaid...

24 May 2024

  • 2025 Employee Communications Report PROMOTED | HR and leadership...Read more
  • The Majority of Employees Have Their Eyes on Their Next Move PROMOTED | A staggering 65%...Read more
  • Prioritising performance management: Strategies for success (webinar) WEBINAR | In today’s fast-paced...Read more
  • Self-Leadership: The Key to Successful Organisations PROMOTED | Eletive is helping businesses...Read more
  • Retaining Female Talent: Four Ways to Reduce Workplace Drop Out PROMOTED | International Women’s Day...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2025

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2025 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+