The race for global talent is still under way and economic growth is dependent on the UK continuing to attract the world’s brightest and best. A sophisticated debate is required which distinguishes immigration issues and halts the current situation where the business sector is caught in the crossfire of the wider public immigration debate.
In the run-up to the general election each party will want to set out immigration policies that address the electorate’s concerns about the impact of migration. The concerns are very real and must be addressed but rather than creating and delivering a sensible strategic immigration framework the temptation has been to focus on headline grabbing policies which do little to tackle the underlying issues and potentially harm the business sector. For example, the Labour party pledge, hastily announced during last year’s party conference , that it would require every firm to offer one apprenticeship for every migrant worker hired from outside of the EU caused genuine consternation in the business sector. This was not because the business sector did not want to offer apprenticeships, in fact just the opposite, but the way the policy was announced would have driven businesses to close good apprenticeship schemes and redirect them to satisfy the new rules. In the end the policy was helpfully redefined by David Hanson in subsequent discussions which we arranged with the business sector, however, it is a good example of how a headline pleasing policy can affect the trust and confidence of the business sector. The coalition policy of ‘Cooling Off’ where migrant employees have to stay outside the UK for 12 months, is another example of a such a policy.
The impact of the cooling-off period is being felt by many employers , even though some exceptions to the policy have been made, and this will be exacerbated in 2016 when there will be an exodus of skilled individuals who will be unable to return to work for their company in the UK until the mandatory period is over.
We need to move away from the net migration target and certainly as a matter of urgency take students out of the figures. International Students make an immense contribution to the economy and we are in danger of suffocating the sector. The Home Office needs to have better focus based training to improve the quality of their audits and overall levels of compliance; the Home Office also requires more resource to tackle illegal immigration.
PwC’s CEO Survey demonstrates that having the right talent in the right place at the right time is one of the major requirements of running a successful business. It is hoped that all parties will bear this in mind and aim to bring some stability to immigration policy.
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Julia Onslow-Cole is partner and head of global immigration, PricewaterhouseCoopers Legal
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