The number of businesses obtaining sponsor licences to hire overseas talent went up by 44% year-on-year in August, according to data obtained by Jobbatical.
The relocation platform submitted a Freedom of Information request to the Home Office, which showed the rise in employers obtaining sponsor licences despite new rules introduced by the Conservative government earlier this year pushing up salary thresholds and health surcharges for certain visas.
As of 30 August 2024, Jobattical said, over 105,000 UK businesses held a sponsor licence – with almost 120,000 individual licences between them.
Of these, 85% of the sponsor licences issued were for the Skilled Worker route, which allows a foreign national to work in the UK if they have a job offer from a UK employer with a licence and they earn more than £38,700. Skilled worker licences went up 46%, it said.
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The second most common licence for businesses hiring workers from overseas was the Global Business Mobility route, which comprised just under 10% of those issued.
Data from the Home Office revealed that employers holding this licence include major brands like Pizza Hut, Telefonica, Compass Group, eBay, Fujitsu and many more. It has also issued to tens of thousands of small-to-medium-sized businesses.
Companies headquartered in London held the biggest share of sponsor licences, Jobbatical found. The company’s previous research found that 60% of senior London professionals believed hiring international workers to be a crucial part of their long-term strategy.
Karoli Hindriks, co-founder and CEO of Jobbatical, said it was too early to see how the Labour government might change the visa landscape for workers.
“Despite a more liberal look on immigration, they’ve made it clear that they still intend to bring down overall immigration numbers so it’s likely that at least some of the measures put in place by the Conservative government will remain in force,” she said.
“But these sponsor licence numbers speak for themselves. Despite the significant barriers, businesses of all sizes still intend to use international recruitment as part of their ongoing recruitment strategies.
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“Reasons for this will be many and clearly demonstrate that there are not enough of the right workers in the UK to fulfil businesses’ needs.”
This was backed up by recent research from Indeed showing that UK employers have loosened English language speaking requirements to combat labour shortages.
