Brexit looms — and still Britain has no viable immigration policy
The deadline for requesting an extension to the transition period has now passed. There are now six months to go before Britain leaves the EU — but there is still a worrying lack of detail on immigration. Deep uncertainty remains over how the system will work in practice, and whether the government has the capacity to deliver something that works.
It is of the utmost importance that the government gets a clear policy in place on immigration, or the consequences could be appalling. According to the Office For National Statistics’ Labour Force Survey for Q1 2020, there are around 2.4 million EU citizens working in the UK. The wholesale, retail, or vehicle repair sector is the most popular with migrants, with 340,000 employed in this area.
The accommodation and food services industry has the highest proportion of EU workers: 15.2 per cent. The manufacturing sector employs the second highest number of EU migrants: 310,000. This is 9.4 per cent of the sector’s workforce. Can Britain afford to leave these crucial parts of the economy in the dark and facing potentially calamitous shortfalls in staff?
Details of the policy were unveiled in February, when Home Secretary Priti Patel promised that the government was “ending free movement, taking back control of our borders and delivering on the people’s priorities by introducing a new UK points-based immigration system, which will bring overall migration numbers down.”
What that means is that, from January 1 2021, migrants coming to the UK from the EU will have to fit into one of four broad categories: high skilled or high valued; skilled; short term or specialist; student. Employers will be able to sponsor migrants to ensure they get a visa — something that will place an additional bureaucratic burden on businesses.
While Patel is packaging the new regime as a “points based system”, it seems that just two of the new categories fit this mould. One of these, a category for highly-skilled workers without a job offer to come to the UK, is still under development. The other is for skilled workers to be sponsored by employers, and migrants in this category must accrue 70 points.
However, this is not truly “points based”, as there are minimum requirements for workers, namely a job offer which must be at an appropriate skill level, and English language skills. A minimum salary threshold of £25,600 must also be met, although there are exceptions to this if a worker is filling a role on the shortage occupation list.
Yet a House of Commons Library briefing paper on the new immigration system made some sobering points. Published in May, it warned that “many of the details of the proposed system are still not known”, including how migrants gain eligibility for a “sponsored skilled worker visa”.
A separate analysis highlighted concerns around the absence of any transition arrangements, the cost and additional red tape involved with sponsoring visas, and the “ambitious timetable for implementation of the new system”.
The ability to sponsor visas is the most pressing issue for businesses. Any firm that plans to recruit new EU workers after December 31 needs to start the process of becoming a registered sponsor now.
The government pledged a “programme of engagement” with businesses and other groups. This was to begin in March, and the Home Office says it has taken part in 45 events since then. Trade bodies have reported a mixed bag of engagement with Whitehall. A spokesperson for the British Retail Consortium struck a positive note, saying it has been “heavily involved in working with the Home Office and in facilitating stakeholder events with its members since March 2020 — and before then”.
However, many organisations have had to shift focus away from immigration change preparations to dealing with the impact of Covid-19. A spokesperson for the Food and Drink Federation said it is only now revisiting its immigration work, while Andrew Goodacre, the chief executive of the British Independent Retailers Association, called for the government to release more details of its plans.
We are aware of the changes, but because of the impact of Covid-19 on retail in particular, our focus has been on dealing with the current crisis,” said Goodacre, adding: “As we now transition from lockdown we will be asking for and expecting more guidance on these new rules.”
Tim Thomas, director of employment and skills policy at Make UK — which represents 3 million workers in the manufacturing sector — also wants more communication from the Home Office.
“Employers have known that freedom of movement is ending in December and a new points-based system for all non-EU and EU citizens in its place for some time,” he said. “However, the level of detail required for employers to be prepared before the start of January has not been provided and they are still for the most part still in the dark.
“With five months before the end of the transition period, the Home Office need to do much more when engaging with employers before they can ready themselves for the new immigration system. Only some details for [the] Tier 2 migration route have been published, but for all other entries there is very little or no detail.
This is particularly the case for SMEs, where “340,000 will need to obtain a sponsorship licence before the end of the year.”
It is not just business that is racing against the clock to get everything in place for the January 1. The government itself needs to ensure it has enough staff and resources to process the new visas, but the difference between Whitehall and business groups is that ministers have the ability to pause the clock.
That is something former Immigration Minister Caroline Nokes has urged. Speaking in a debate on the plans in May, Nokes — who served as Immigration Minister from January 2018 to July 2019 — called on the Home Office to adopt a “phased approach” to implementing the new regime, saying: “Sometimes the best laid plans to revolutionise our immigration system do not work well when introduced in a big-bang style.
“That is in the best of times; we are not in the best of times.
“We know from Home Office press releases that there are backlogs in the settled status scheme; that visa application centres are closed; and if someone wishes to renew their indefinite leave to remain, or obtain a new biometric residence card they cannot do so currently.”
Separately from asking questions in the Commons chamber, Nokes has been trying to get hold of hard facts about how prepared the Home Office is for the new system.
In a series of written questions, she asked Ministers how many additional staff have been hired to process visa applications from EU nationals, how long it will take to train those staff, and whether a specific recruitment campaign will be launched to help fill vacancies,
Kevin Foster, the immigration minister, provided a stock reply to all the queries, saying “there is a natural cycle of recruitment of caseworkers every year and this year the requirements of the new system have been factored in.” He refused to provide any details on staff numbers, training, or a recruitment plan.
There were concerns that the government was too ambitious with its timetable for introducing the new immigration system before the pandemic hit. It seems ministers need to work harder to instil confidence that the country will be ready for January 1, or the New Year hangover could be a very bad one indeed.
