Businesses Unhappy With UK Government’s Tougher Rules on Foreign Workers

The UK government’s tough stance on tightening rules for overseas workers is leading to labour shortages across key sectors.

The British government on Monday decided to curtail migration around the country by putting restrictions on who can come to work, study and live in the country.

The proposal mandates proficiency in English, along with the necessary skills and educational qualifications to obtain a work visa. The government said that migrant workers will have to spend close to 10 years in the country before they could apply to stay indefinitely.

According to the government, its new proposals “back British workers over cheap overseas labour” and would link migration policy with skills to boost economic growth.

However, a major concern has forced the major businesses to think whether Brits can compete in traditional sectors heavily-reliant on overseas labour, like health and social care.

Can Brits fill the gap?

A care home manager in the South of England told CNBC that it’s a “struggle” to recruit British workers and was “very, very unusual” to attract home-grown workers in the social care sector.

“It’s been years, a good couple of years that we haven’t had any British applicants, English applicants,” the care home manager, who could only speak anonymously because of the sensitivity of the matter, told CNBC on Tuesday.

“I hear lots of things like, you know, Morrison’s [supermarket] pay more, McDonald’s pay more. You hear all those comments out in the community. The pay isn’t great for care, so it is a struggle,” the source said.

“I would say probably 70% of our workforce on the care team are from India. Without those girls, our residents ... wouldn’t have had anyone to look after them ...What do you put in place [to fill that workforce]? You can’t make people work. You can’t make people look after these residents.”

The government said in its blueprint on immigration that steep increases in net migration in recent years had been caused by “a big increase in overseas recruitment including a shift towards lower-skilled migration, with a substantial increase in worker visas issued below degree level.”

Net migration clocked a record high of 906,000 in the year to June 2023, but fell in subsequent twelve months to 728,000, Office for National Statistics said.

The government said Monday that it will now “end overseas recruitment for social care visas” although visa extensions would be permitted until 2028.

Care England highlighted that the immigration plans could have “serious consequences for a sector already under immense pressure.” According to the Non-profit organisation, the care industry currently has 131,000 vacancies.

Let’s be clear – this decision is not a solution,” Care England’s Chief Executive Martin Green said responding to the government’s plans Monday.

“It is a political gesture that treats the symptoms but ignores the disease. Rather than investing in the sector and solving the recruitment crisis, the Government is closing the door on one of the only workforce pipelines still functioning. Social care is not low-skilled work. It is high-skill, low-pay work that deserves respect, proper recognition, and meaningful investment.”

Green said, “While concerns around exploitation must be addressed, the proposed solution – ending overseas recruitment entirely – removes a vital workforce supply without establishing a viable domestic alternative.”

Businesses Unhappy With UK Government’s Tougher Rules on Foreign Workers

Experts say that while training and upskilling British workers is a welcome move, it is unlikely to significantly ease the labour shortage.

“Employers are clear: boosting training in the U.K. is essential, but so is a controlled, affordable and responsive immigration system that keeps investment flowing to the U.K.,” the U.K.’s Recruitment and Employment Confederation Chief Executive Nick Carberry commented Monday.

“Labour shortages can’t be solved by training alone. With the U.K.’s workforce set to shrink in the future as our population ages, it’s more important than ever that we support the business investment needed to underpin tech adoption and training,” Rain Newton-Smith, the CBI’s chief executive, noted.

Businesses are keen to unlock more “home-grown talent,” said Jane Gratton, deputy director of policy at the British Chambers of Commerce.

“However, it’s vital that the pace of change in the immigration system does not cut off access to global talent before the U.K.’s wider labour market problems are properly addressed,” Gratton noted.