James Cleverly has introduced a set of actions aimed at reducing the influx of migrant workers and their families into the UK, making it more challenging for employers to hire foreign employees, particularly in the healthcare and social care fields.
The home secretary proposed a five-point strategy that includes increasing the minimum salary for skilled worker visas to £38,700 and eliminating the rule that allows for hiring in high-demand professions at 20% below the standard rate.
The government’s decision to decrease net migration by 300,000 per year is seen as an effort by Cleverly and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to improve the Conservative party’s reputation for managing immigration.
However, professionals caution that this also poses a risk of creating more disorder in the already overwhelmed healthcare industry and harming the United Kingdom’s future potential for growth.
On Monday, Cleverly expressed to MPs that the current level of migration is excessive and must be reduced, stating “enough is enough”.
He stated: “I am pleased to announce that we will take additional steps beyond the current measures, with a five-point strategy to better control immigration abuses, resulting in the largest decrease in net migration to date.
This package, combined with our decrease in student dependants, will result in approximately 300,000 fewer individuals entering the UK in the coming years compared to the previous year.
In addition to increasing the minimum salary requirement and eliminating the “shortage occupation list”, Cleverly revealed that social care employees would no longer have the option to bring their family members when relocating to the UK for work.
According to his statement, individuals residing in the UK, including those with British citizenship, will now have the opportunity to sponsor family members to join them in the UK. However, this will only be possible if the individual living in the UK has an annual income of at least £38,700, an increase from the current requirement of £18,600.
The government has requested that the Migration Advisory Committee reassess the regulations for individuals who have finished their undergraduate studies in the UK.
A representative from Downing Street described the package as “the most extensive restriction on legal migration to date.” They also stated, “We are confident that this package will allow us to greatly decrease numbers while still promoting economic growth.”
This is one aspect of a two-pronged strategy to decrease the influx of individuals entering Britain through legal and illegal means. It is expected that Cleverly will travel to Kigali this week to finalize a new asylum agreement with Rwanda, as the government prepares to introduce new laws in an attempt to jumpstart their plan involving Rwanda.
According to reports, Downing Street’s initial plan was to unveil a less strict set of limitations on legal immigration. However, they ultimately caved to intense pressure from Conservative party members and Robert Jenrick, the minister of immigration.
The five-point plan, which Jenrick had allegedly pushed the prime minister to adopt numerous times in the past few weeks, was denied by Downing Street.
Christopher Howarth, a previous consultant for the Home Office during Priti Patel’s tenure, stated that the Treasury had rejected similar actions while Rishi Sunak was the chancellor due to concerns that it would hinder economic progress.
Howarth stated that these modifications were the ones we requested the government to prioritize 18 months ago. However, they faced opposition from different government agencies, particularly the Treasury.
According to the Home Office, combining this recent alteration with prior adjustments to student visas will result in a decrease of 300,000 individuals entering the UK.
Modelling suggests:
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The number of students entering through designated routes will decrease by 140,000.
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There will be a decrease of 100,000 individuals accessing health and social care services.
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There will be a decrease of 50,000 individuals entering through alternative skilled worker pathways.
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The number of sponsored family members will decrease by tens of thousands.
Authorities are unable to determine the proportion of decreased health and social care visas that will be attributed to a decrease in workers or their dependants.
In England, there are currently 152,000 open positions for care workers. Reports from care home inspectors have revealed that inadequate staffing often leads to residents receiving below-par care and, in some cases, even puts them in harm’s way.
Martin Green, the CEO of Care England, which advocates for major private care home companies, cautioned that the government is creating challenges for care providers in hiring foreign employees.
The government must act quickly and invest in improving pay and conditions to encourage domestic recruitment in order to address the social care workforce crisis. Moving away from relying on international recruitment is necessary.
According to Christina McAnea, who serves as the general secretary of Unison, the government is risking crucial services in order to appease their backbenchers and the extreme right. However, if government officials were to address the challenging problems and follow through on their pledge to revamp social care, there would not be such a shortage of workers.
George Eustice, a former minister from the Conservative party, inquired about the potential effects on the care industry and urged the government to shift away from an ineffective skills-based immigration policy.
The speaker expressed concern about the flaws of a skills-based immigration policy, stating that it favors certain professions like bankers, lawyers, accountants, and economists, even though there is no shortage of these types of workers in the country. This makes it challenging to hire workers in other vital industries such as caregiving, food production, manufacturing, and tourism.
The Conservative chair of the health select committee, Steve Brine, stated that the number of openings in adult social care has decreased to 152,000 due to individuals utilizing the shortage occupations list. Meanwhile, there were 121,000 vacancies in the NHS in September. Brine questioned which individuals the ministers consulted before making their legal migration announcement.
The announcement exceeds expectations and essentially reinstates the immigration system before Brexit, where educated non-EU workers were primarily sought after.
In the year ending in September, data from the Home Office revealed a significant increase in the number of visas issued to foreign individuals in the health and social care sectors, reaching a total of 143,990. An additional 173,896 dependants were also brought in by these workers.
Earlier this year, the government was advised by the Migration Advisory Committee to eliminate the shortage occupation list. This recommendation was made due to worries that the list was being utilized by companies in low-paying industries to employ inexpensive foreign workers rather than hiring workers from within the country.
In 2010, David Cameron pledged to lower annual net migration to the tens of thousands. However, the number has continued to be high and has increased notably after Brexit, with the majority of individuals arriving from countries outside of the European Union.
Following the 2016 referendum, anti-EU Conservatives who campaigned for Brexit based on promises of border control have experienced a significant increase in net migration.
The home secretary’s choice to increase the family income requirement to £38,700 may have the greatest effects on individuals, according to Dr Madeleine Sumption, director of the Migration Observatory at Oxford University.
She stated that this limit dictates if British citizens are allowed to have their foreign partner reside with them in the UK, and it has been increased by more than two times.
Although family migration is a relatively small portion of overall migration, it can have a significant impact on those involved.
The greatest effects will be felt by lower-income individuals in Britain, especially women and younger adults who typically have lower salaries.
Source: theguardian.com
