Share Now
on October 28, 2024
Read Time: 8 Minutes
One of the biggest running themes of UK politics since 2021 has been the historically high levels of net migration the country has experienced, and the practical and political challenges inherent in dealing with this issue. In the online news section at Cranbrook Legal, we reported as far back as 2022 about net migration reaching its highest level since the end of World War II.
As we referenced back then, the spike can be partly attributed to factors that would generally be regarded as historically “exceptional”. These include such developments as the COVID-19 pandemic, and the UK taking in migrants from Afghanistan, Ukraine, and Hong Kong.
Over the last few years of the Conservative administrations under Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, and Rishi Sunak, the recorded numbers of migrants to the UK remained high.
According to the latest statistical bulletin on long-term international migration issued by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in May, long-term net migration was provisionally estimated to be 685,000 during the year ending December 2023. This was a slight drop from the updated estimate of 764,000 for the year ending December 2022.
So, bearing in mind that these numbers were seen under a Conservative Government, is there much likelihood – following the Labour Party’s triumph in July’s general election – of 2023’s drop being the start of a sustained decrease? Furthermore, given that Labour has echoed the Conservatives’ message of net migration in the UK being too high, what is the new Government actually doing to bring about a fall in numbers?
Below, our award-winning experts in UK immigration law at Cranbrook Legal have looked at the declarations so far made by new Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s administration on this subject – and the likely implications for UK employers in particular.
Shortly after Yvette Cooper’s appointment as Home Secretary in July, the MP for Pontefract, Castleford and Knottingley gave a statement to Parliament, setting out the approach the Labour Government intended to take to legal migration.
This new approach includes recognition of the value that legal migration brings to the country, but also acknowledgement of the importance of proper control and management of the immigration system.
Labour has identified employers’ heavy dependence on the hiring of staff from overseas as a factor in the historically high net migration seen over the last five years.
The Starmer Government has therefore outlined the following steps that it plans to take:
The new Government has sought to connect migration and visa policy to skills and labour market policy. It has said that the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) will work with Skills England, the Industrial Strategy Council, and the Labour Market Advisory Board, in support of a “coherent” approach to the development of skills, migration, and labour market policy.
Furthermore, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has announced the launch of Skills England to help tackle skills gaps, as part of the Government’s efforts to get more people back into work.
It is expected that the Home Office under the new Labour Government will beef up the MAC’s role, as it seeks to address what it perceives as over-reliance on international recruitment among employers in certain sectors.
The Government’s measures to bolster the MAC will include the deployment of additional Home Office staff to its secretariat, to allow for more strategic work.
Engineering and IT are among the top 10 sectors in the UK that have the highest percentage of their workforce consisting of new foreign-worker visa holders.
It is perhaps unsurprising, then, that at the time of typing, the Home Secretary has already commissioned the MAC to take a closer look at these sectors. The aim is to assess the root causes of these industries having “consistently relied on the international workforce, rather than sourcing the workers and skills they need here in the UK.”
One of the immigration policy milestones during the previous Rishi Sunak-led Government was the announcement of what then-Home Secretary James Cleverly described as a “five-point plan” to reduce migration to the UK. The measures unveiled at the time affected worker visa holders and dependants.
Ms Cooper has said that the new Government supports these changes and will continue with their implementation. These steps have included a big hike in the minimum salary threshold for Skilled Worker visas, as well as restrictions on who is permitted to bring dependants to the UK.
The new Home Secretary has emphasised the valuable economic and academic contributions that overseas students make to the UK. However, to combat the risk of abuse and exploitation, the Labour Government said it would continue implementing the recommendations the MAC had put forward after reviewing the Graduate visa route.
In a news release in late September, the Home Office gave further reason for organisations in the UK that hire foreign talent to be vigilant: a proposed strengthening of the rules around visa sponsorship of migrant workers.
The department said this would allow for “strong action” to be taken against employers that violated employment laws, “restricting their ability to hire workers from abroad.”
According to the Home Office, this change will come alongside work the department said was “already underway to clamp down on existing sponsor licence holders and to stop visa abuse”. It cited as examples of such work a “ramping up” of UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) investigation visits, and the suspension and revocation of licences “where employers abuse the immigration system and exploit migrant workers.”
With regard to the MAC’s expanded role that the Labour Government had already referenced, the Home Office stated in its late September update that the body would be tasked with monitoring and proactively drawing attention to key sectors where skills shortages have led to surges of recruitment from abroad. As part of this work, the MAC will provide a yearly assessment to ministers, who will use this information to inform policymaking. In the Home Office’s words, the annual assessment undertaken by the MAC “will help industries respond swiftly to skills gaps and take necessary steps to reduce their dependency on migrant workers”. In accordance with this, the impacted sectors will be expected to “invest in training, workforce plans, and higher quality jobs for workers here at home.”
Recent years have seen unusually high levels of net migration from a historical perspective. However, it is important to bear in mind that over the last few decades, levels of migration to the UK have been broadly similar to those experienced by other high-income countries.
Nonetheless, with long-term net migration provisionally estimated to be 685,000 in 2023 – still greatly higher than the approximately 250,000 per year seen pre-pandemic – it is worth considering some of the specific reasons for the spike.
The new Government has set out its commitment to continue lowering net migration to the UK, while pursuing an evidence-based approach to migration policy. Closely connected to this will be efforts to help develop UK-based skills and talent, so that employers are not forced to compensate for deficiencies in the UK labour market by seeking new staff from abroad instead.
UK employers should be alert to the possibility that future sponsorship may depend on businesses and industries demonstrating their commitment to improving skills among the local workforce and training providers in this country. However, it remains to be seen what exact measures may be pursued by the new Government to help achieve this aim. In the meantime, whether you are an individual or an employer seeking to engage with the UK immigration system – such as to recruit staff or to apply for a UK visa – please don’t hesitate to contact our skilled experts in immigration law for further help and advice. You can call us on 0208 215 0053, or complete and submit our online contact form to book a free consultation.
How Can We Help You?
