IMMIGRATION MATTERS - SPECIAL
REPORT
By
“How 2 Come to the
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MINISTER
OUTLINES PLANS AT HOME OFFICE MEETING At a special
Home Office briefing for selected advisers and employers, Tony McNulty,
Immigration Minister, outlined further details of the government’s plans to
change the entire |
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Radical
measures include abolishing work permits and allowing employers to issue their
own “employment certificates”
At a
special Home Office briefing for selected advisers and employers, Tony McNulty,
Immigration Minister, outlined further details of the government’s plans to
change the entire
The current 80 entry
schemes will be replaced by a single five tier points-based system (covered in
detail in our previous issue), the aim being to only
allow entry to those whose skills will benefit the
Employers, or sponsors as
they are to be known, are to be given more responsibilities including deciding
whether or not a worker is qualified for a position and issuing their own
employment certificates. Sponsors will also be responsible for informing the
Home Office when an employee leaves or fails to show. Tony McNulty said that
the sponsor must be “far more readily part of the overall process” and added that ”immigration is good and makes a positive
contribution”
Skills Advisory Body
The Skills Advisory Board
(SAB) will supply information on where skills gaps exist and play a key role in
effectively deciding who gets. One of the questions I put to Nicola Thomas,
Deputy Director of Managed Migration was how care homes could recruit care
staff from outside the EU when they clearly would not gain enough points under
the new system. Nicola did not give a conclusive answer, but said they are
aware of needs of the care industry. Another official said that Senior Carers
would get in if they were categorised as a shortage occupation. Currently,
carers and senior carers are not considered as a shortage occupation and work
permits are not granted for anything below senior carer (NVQ3) level.
The industry needs to lobby the government
Various organisations are
lobbying the government, particularly in the Indian and Chinese restaurant
community. The Bangladeshi Catering Industry representatives were at the
meeting in numbers, handing out leaflets and lobbying the Minister to allow in
low skilled migrants and Chefs. Care industry groups will need to shout loud to
make their voices heard.
As previously reported the
points system is heavily weighted towards shortage occupations and higher
paying jobs. Senior Carers will not qualify under the proposed system, which
could also prevent employers from extending work permits for existing staff.
I asked Mr McNulty and the
panel, which included representatives of The CBI and TUC and various members of
the Home Office Managed Migration Team, to assure the care industry that the
aim of attracting high flyers and investors, would not
be prioritised at the expense of other equally important lower skilled workers
such as Senior Carers. I went on to point out that Dame Denise Platt, Chair of
the CSCI, has warned that “staff shortages are putting patients at risk” and
that under the proposed points table Senior Carers would not qualify for a work
permit. The minister refuted my suggestion denying that they were only
concentrating on high flyers and went on to say that the government would act
in the interest of the country. He then moved on and I was not given an
opportunity to question him further. I did, however, manage to briefly talk to
Mr McNulty after the meeting. I presented him with a copy of our book, “How 2
Come to the
Mr McNulty admits that the finer
details of the scheme have not been finalised. “We need your contribution” he
told the audience, sending out a clear message that we can make a difference
even at this late stage.
We still can persuade the
government to take into account the special needs of the industry. I have
written to Home Secretary Charles Clarke to request that government think again
on the issue of care staff and revise the system for the sake of the thousands
of care homes employing overseas workers. You can also email your comments to pointsbased.comments@ind.homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk.
On the face of it many of
these proposed changes seem to make sense. Who could argue against replacing
eighty schemes with a five tier system (even if they are largely the same schemes
repackaged)? Many organisations such as the CBI have “welcomed” plans to make
the system more “transparent” and “user friendly”. The government’s
presentation is polished and reassuring, however, when you start to scratch
under the surface you realise that there are still a lot of unanswered
questions.
If you should have any
questions concerning any of the above issues please email