The CEA has been asked by its Relationship Manager at BEIS (the Department for Business) to draw your attention to a number of recent developments and requests for industry input:
Shortage Occupation List (SOL) – the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) has published a call for evidence on the SOL. The MAC have created a form for businesses and organisations to submit evidence, which can be accessed through their website. The deadline is 20 December. BEIS will also submit formal evidence to the MAC. If you could share a copy of any evidence you do submit, I would greatly appreciate it.
The Government is due to publish a White Paper on the future immigration system. We shall share further information on this when we have it. Some background on the SOL and the MAC can be found below.
REACH – additional guidance has been made available, following the publication of a Technical Notice on 24 September: http://www.hse.gov.uk/brexit/brexit-chemical-regulation.htm?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=EU-Exit&utm_content=Defra. Please let me know if you have any comments or questions related to this additional guidance.
Border planning – as part of ongoing scenario planning, Government departments have been working to design customs and other control arrangements at the UK border in a way which ensures goods can continue to flow into the country. A summary of this can be found here: Border planning assumptions in the event of a ‘no deal’ Brexit. Again, we would welcome any comments or questions you have on this.
SOL background:
The Shortage Occupation List (SOL) comprises occupations and job titles held to be in shortage either across the UK, or in Scotland only, where it would be sensible to fill through non-EEA migration. Job titles on the SOL are not required to undertake the Resident Labour Market Test or meet the five-year salary threshold for settlement. Shortage Occupation roles are also given priority over non-SOL roles where the cap on Certificates of Sponsorship has been reached in any given month. The MAC has indicated that in cases where occupations are currently on the SOL, evidence is required for them to remain on the list.
The MAC request evidence on:
- Number of employees
- Job titles, descriptions and standardised ONS descriptions
- Salary
- Work experience level
- Qualification level
- Reason for shortage
- Length of shortage
- Measure taken to reduce shortage
- Experience of Tier 2 system
The MAC has confirmed that the review of the SOL will take place in its current context, and not in relation to EU Exit. Therefore, please respond with evidence on your experience of the current non-EEA immigration system. We would encourage you to respond to this call for evidence, as the SOL was last reviewed 5 years ago and we therefore expect to see amendments to roles to allow for shifts in the economy and labour market trends.
To respond – follow the link below:
https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/shortage-occupation-list-2018-call-for-evidence
