The main route for skilled workers into the UK, including tech specialists, is dogged by confusion and a lack of coordination across government departments the National Audit Office has warned.
The current Skilled Worker Visa program was put in place in 2020 after Brexit put a stop to European workers easily migrating to the UK.
It covers a wide range of occupations, from CEOs and heads of PR, to IT directors, project managers, software developers, and cyber sec specialists, as well as management consultants, engineers, and medics.
However, it has been chopped and changed by successive governments, often the NAO found, with little thought to the consequences.
The NAO found that the programme was seeing “reduced use” by some key sectors. Yet, overall “much higher than expected numbers” have used it, largely care workers. Changes brought in last year saw the number of visas issued drop by 252,700 or 50%.
Nevertheless, the Home Office “does not fully understand how the route is being used or its contribution to the economy” the NAO found.
While there was “evidence of benefits”, the NAO said, there were also consequences, including an increase in the number of workers applying for permanent residency and of skilled visa workers subsequently applying for asylum, from 53 in 2022 to over 5,000 last year.
The NAO found that employers in sectors such as “IT, science and engineering professions, where salaries are traditionally higher, have continued to use the route to address skill shortages.”
However, UK businesses are still crippled by a lack of adequate tech skills, posing a £27.6bn hit to the economy by the end of the decade.
The introduction of higher salary thresholds “restricted use of the route in other sectors, including public sector vets, butchers working in abattoirs, construction and architecture.”
Abuse of the scheme and workers seems to be a particular problem in the care sector. However, the report said, “The Home Office does not have all the data it needs to address non-compliance risks”. And the government has failed to develop a joined up approach to tacking exploitation.
It doesn’t help that the Home Offices own systems are causing problems. The NAO found “its planned transformation of the sponsorship system on the Skilled Worker visa route has been delayed, with the replacement of the existing system extended from 2023 to 2028 and decommissioning of the old IT system delayed by a year.”
The NAO made a raft of recommendations, including calling on the Home Office to work more closely with other agencies including Skills England and the Industrial Strategy Council to “establish an agreed methodological approach and identify the data needed to guide the scheme.
It should also strengthen its approach towards non-compliance, including assessing sector specific risks.
“This report makes clear that sudden immigration policy changes have happened without proper coordination across government, and with little regard for their impact on essential care services which are struggling to recruit enough staff domestically. Such changes can be implemented at speed, but the problems they create then take years to fix.
