UKEA calls for Government action on immigration cap
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The UK Electronics Alliance has issued a report suggesting that the immigration cap issued in April is harming recruitment at companies in the UK.
The UK Electronics Alliance has issued a report suggesting that the immigration cap issued in April is harming recruitment at companies in the UK. The report adds that this will increase unfilled vacancies and result in jobs being located overseas. The UKEA has sent the document to the Home office and BIS calling on the Government to take action.
Actions demanded include a review of the list of technical occupations in advanced manufacturing on the Tier 2 list to identify where the immigration cap is causing genuine recruitment problems; a review of immigration cap quotas on a regular basis to ensure the availability of overseas talent for those jobs is reduced in line with the increase in the supply of comparably qualified home grown talent; coordination of this approach with a review of and an improvement in the consultation process between advanced manufacturing and education policy makers; provision of clearer information and guidance on the application process, especially to SMEs; and the introduction of provisions for SMEs who do not benefit from the intercompany transfer rule.
The report stated: "It will clearly take time to increase the flow of suitably qualified home grown candidates coming into UK manufacturing and specifically into UK electronics. Our survey appears to show that the introduction of the immigration cap will not necessarily lead to the employment of more EEA candidates. Rather, it could lead to delay or cancellation of some work, a loss of competitiveness and perhaps even moving some work offshore.
"It seems that the Government has put the cart before the horse in introducing these new measures before addressing the issues that are creating this situation in the first place and seem at odds with the Government's initiatives to enable the growth of UK manufacturing."
The UKEA suggests an urgent review of technical occupations in advanced manufacturing on the Tier 2 list to identify where the immigration cap is causing genuine recruitment problems and announced it would be 'very willing' to help with this process on behalf of UK electronics.
