Employment Bulletin
9 May 2008
Tighter new rules for skilled foreign workers
This week the Government produced further information about the new points based migration scheme introduced in February this year. The scheme replaces more than 80 existing work and study routes into the United Kingdom and consists of five tiers under which points are awarded on workers' skills to reflect aptitude, experience, age and also the demand for those skills in any given sector.
Tier 1 which applies to highly skilled migrants went live in February of this year.
Tier 2 will be commence this autumn and will replace the current Work Permit Scheme. Employers seeking to employ skilled migrants will need to apply for a licence and to join the register of sponsors. Migrants will need to score more than 70 points, have £800 in savings and a further £600 for each dependant and be able to converse in basic English.
Tier 3 which covers low skilled routes, will only be used if specific shortages are identified that can not be filled from the UK's domestic or European labour force. This will mean that low-skilled workers from outside the EU will currently be prevented from applying for work under the new system.
Tier 4 for students will follow at the beginning of 2009.
Tier 5 will also go live this autumn and covers temporary workers such as musicians, actors and sportsmen.
For further information, please contact Felicity Larter: flarter@vwl.co.uk.
Employers of migrant workers could be compelled to pay for English lessons Communities Secretary, Hazel Blears, has proposed that employers should pay the cost of English lessons for their migrant workers. Ms Blears is eager for those who benefit from migrants workers to contribute to the cost of their integration and has suggested if employers do not agree to make a contribution, legislation may be introduced to force them to do so. Needless to say Employers' groups have said that they will "strongly oppose" plans to force contributions towards language training. Watch this space: New Acas Code on Discipline and Grievance Consultation has commenced on the provisions of the new draft Code which according to ACAS is "one of the first steps to simplify the dispute resolution process". Click here for a copy of the new draft Code. For further information, please contact Felicity Larter: flarter@vwl.co.uk.
For further information, please contact Felicity Larter: flarter@vwl.co.uk.
This publication is for guidance only. Reliance should not be placed upon it and nor should action be taken, without obtaining advice in respect of the specific circumstances applicable. We will be pleased to provide such advice or assistance.
