Tier 2 migrant quota reached
The heavily criticised limit on skilled migration, otherwise known as the Tier 2 migrant cap, hit the rails this month. For the first time in over two years, the demand for Restricted Certificates of Sponsorship (RCoS) significantly outstripped supply and left a large number of UK employers’ recruitment plans in disarray.
The RCoS application process works to a monthly cycle and each application received earns points according to a set of criteria where the proposed level of salary being offered to the migrant worker is key. Allocations of Restricted CoS are awarded to those applications attracting the most points.
A small number of applications filed by employers will represent jobs at PhD level or those listed on the government’s shortage occupations list. These applications are allocated the highest number of points and are therefore mostly guaranteed to secure a RCoS allocation. However, the key differential between the rest of the applications submitted is based around the salary offered to the prospective employee. The higher the salary, the more points the application will attract.
Although the Home Office has yet to formally announce the minimum salary required to secure a certificate this month, the bar appears to have been set at around £55,000 per annum. Restricted CoS requests incorporating a salary less than this figure have been declined this month.
The subsequent impact on recruitment and resource planning for UK employers cannot be underestimated.
Of those employers adversely affected, many will have little choice but to file the same request(s) again next month. However, unless demand falls dramatically, a large number of businesses are once again likely to be left disappointed and frustrated in their attempts to recruit skilled labour from overseas.
When you combine the unpredictability of the Tier 2 restricted work visa scheme with the difficulty businesses now face in retaining key European staff within the UK, it comes as little surprise that so many companies are now considering the possibility of relocating abroad.
Businesses need to have trust in an immigration system that offers the ability to access skilled labour from overseas. Unfortunately, the current Tier 2 migrant cap and its monthly lottery scheme is doing very little in the way of providing certainty for business or, indeed, instilling much needed confidence.
