Employers plan ahead as shifts in UK immigration policy impact recruitment

The Government’s immigration policy is changing fast and it’s a challenge for employers to keep pace with their international recruitment demands. The latest example is the government’s visa break, which comes into force today, allowing certain Student and Skilled Worker visas applications to be refused on nationality grounds. Employers that don’t plan ahead risk hiring decisions today that no longer work as the rules evolve. We’ll speak to an immigration expert who is helping clients to plan ahead. 

The visa brake is just the latest example of a wider pattern of change. Others include sharp increases in salary thresholds for Skilled Worker visas, restrictions on dependents for most international students and ongoing changes to visa eligibility rules and routes. Together, they show how quickly immigration rules can shift, often with limited notice. The visa brake was announced on 4 March and has taken effect in just over three weeks. 

In response, employers are taking a more forward-looking approach. That means looking beyond whether a candidate qualifies today and considering whether roles will continue to meet immigration requirements over time. It also means ensuring sponsorship is properly managed across the organisation, with HR, recruitment and line managers aligned.

So let’s hear more about that. Shara Pledger heads up our Immigration Team and has been helping a number of clients cope with the changes and plan ahead: 

Shara Pledger: “This particular change, this idea of the visa break, is very impactful, and obviously it has immediate effect, as well, as of the 26th of March when it's enacted. That is relatively unusual, as I say, for us to see. It’s not often that we see entire nationalities removed from particular visa applications so we would hope that this would not be something that would be replicated very often in future and clearly, in this case, it has been in reaction to a very specific issue that has been identified by the Home Office in relation to those particular groups. That said, I think it's a really good example of how reactive immigration law can be, and even though there is notice, it is still relatively short notice, we are only talking less than a month before that change has taken effect so it really is a great example of how you do need to always stay on your toes when it comes to immigration law.”

Joe Glavina: “We know the government is looking to reduce net migration and tighten control of certain visa routes, so that’s the background. So what’s the knock-on effect for international recruitment, Shara?”

Shara Pledger: “I think more than anything over the past 18 to 24 months it has really reinforced, particularly to employers, that there needs to be a much more longer-term strategy in relation to who they're hiring and how they are being hired. So if we think about the changes to the salary requirement, for example, you might be able to hire somebody now who qualifies for a discount, perhaps because they're just coming out of qualifying for a degree, for example, in the UK, and so they're going to earn that discounted salary initially for sponsorship. Where does that lead because they will only be able to qualify for that discount for a limited period of time and, after that, they will need to go up to what the standard salary requirements are, and if that is vastly below where the baseline salary is for a particular employer then, long term, we have an issue here because at some point, that individual is going to no longer qualify for their sponsorship. This does leave employers with a bit of a dilemma about choosing the best candidate at the time but also having a long-term strategy about how that person can remain with the business. So a lot of what we're doing at the moment is trying to engage with employers to think those strategies through, but crucially to make decisions which are fair and lawful and non-discriminatory, as well, because there's a real balance there.”

Joe Glavina: “I know you’re doing a lot of work with clients on this, helping them to plan ahead. Who is it in the client’s business that you’re working with?”

Shara Pledger: “We will work with a big range of people within a business. Sometimes it's purely focused on HR and recruitment, sometimes it's with line managers who are often the people that are tasked with identifying particularly where those skill shortages are within an organisation. So there is a real range. What I would say is that the most successful examples of sponsorship, and particularly sponsorship strategy, are where those individuals are all involved at the appropriate point in the process because where things start to break down is when you have line managers making decisions, particularly after sponsorship has been approved, so decisions perhaps about promotions, or changes to the role, and they then don't inform HR teams or recruitment teams about because sponsorship is really a team sport at the end of the day, the entire licence needs to be managed completely appropriately all of the time and so you do need to ensure that all of the people are playing their part in making sure that that compliance is ticked off every day.”

For employers, the message is clear – immigration policy can change quickly, so recruitment decisions need to stand up over time. If you would like help developing a longer-term international recruitment strategy or ensuring your sponsorship arrangements remain compliant as the rules evolve, please do contact Shara – her details are on the screen for you.