Home Secretary makes a swift return to the MAC

Last week, the Home Secretary asked the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to carry out another in-depth analysis, this time on potential future salary thresholds and the range at which they could be set.

This request comes only weeks after the last MAC report, and seven months since Sajid Javid published a White Paper on immigration policy proposals, set to become law in 2021.

In May, the MAC – which offers independent advice on immigration policy –  recommended that the government should retain any existing minimum salary thresholds in the future immigration system, which includes paying experienced workers at least £30,000, and new entrants (including recent graduates) at least £20, 800.

Sajid Javid wants the MAC to work out how future thresholds should be calculated, and whether there is a case for regional salary thresholds in different parts of the UK. He has also asked whether there should be exceptions to salary thresholds, for instance in the case of new employees and those who are working in ‘occupations in shortage’.

The Chair of the MAC, Professor Alan Manning, said he welcomed the chance to ‘develop the evidence-base it produced for the EEA Migration in the UK report’ in May.

This is in addition to the Home Office’s ongoing programme of engagement, at which officials from the department meet with business leaders from around the UK.

The new immigration system will be the UK’s biggest change in policy, ending years of free movement within the EU.

Some of its proposals include removing the cap on skilled workers; speeding up processing times for visa and scrapping the resident labour market test. Additionally the Home Office is looking at a temporary visa route allowing migrant workers from some countries to stay for a year, open to all skill levels.

The MAC’s report and recommendations (which are usually implemented by the government) will be published in January 2020.