The Home Secretary has commissioned the Migration Advisory Committee to carry out a review of those UK sectors which are reliant on overseas workers, with a focus on the IT and engineering sectors.
Historically, roles in the IT and engineering sectors were included on the Shortage Occupation List (SOL), reflecting the domestic labour shortages in those industries. This benefitted migrant workers and employers alike, as it meant lower visa application fees for the workers and reduced minimum salary requirements for the employers, incentivising the recruitment of migrant workers in these sectors to address those shortages.
However, in November 2023, the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) made the surprising recommendation to scrap the SOL entirely, asserting that it was only ever intended to be a temporary solution to be the UK’s labour shortages, which ought to be addressed more permanently through improved training, work conditions and career progression. You can read more about that recommendation here.
This was followed in April 2024 by the replacement of the SOL with the new Immigration Salary List (ISL) – essentially a pared-down version of the SOL. Crucially, the ISL does not include roles in the IT or engineering sectors. As a result, employers operating in these sectors ceased to benefit from reduced minimum salaries and visa fees for new applicants, making it less cost-effective to recruit migrant workers.
In the build-up to this year’s General Election, Labour made clear that their immigration policy would focus on addressing skills shortages in the UK to reduce reliance on migrant workers. The Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has commissioned the MAC to carry out a review of the IT and engineering sectors. It is hoped that this review will enable the MAC to better understand why these particular sectors are so dependent on migrant workers, with the end goal of identifying how these shortages might be addressed by the domestic labour force.
The MAC’s report is expected in Spring 2025. We will update you once this is published.
If you would like advice on or support with hiring migrant workers or preparing a visa application, please get in touch at [email protected]
