Points-based Migration System is Announced

The Home Office has revealed its plans to change the entire Immigration system to a points-based system which I am sure most of you will have heard of already in one form or another.

Yes it is true that all current work permit and entry clearance schemes will be replaced by the five tier points based system.

The points based system is a central part of the Government’s five year strategy for asylum and immigration, which was published in February 2005, and is committed to a wide-ranging plan:

• to ensure that only those who benefit Britain can come here to work or study
• to strengthen the UK’s borders
• to crack down on abuse and illegal immigration
• to strengthen removals and send people home at the end of their FLR

The scheme will be complemented with a tougher approach from our own British embassies abroad to weed out false applications and will place increased obligations on UK businesses and universities who will now be required to sponsor migrants and help to ensure that those they sponsor adhere to the terms of their visa.

Some of the key elements of the system include:

Consolidating more than 80 existing work and study routes into five tiers:

• Tier 1 - highly skilled, e.g. Scientists, doctors etc.
• Tier 2 - skilled workers with a job offer, e.g. NVQ level 3
• Tier 3 - low skilled workers filling specific temporary labour shortages, e.g. construction workers for a particular project
• Tier 4 – students
• Tier 5 - youth mobility and temporary workers, e.g. working holiday makers or musicians coming to play a concert

Points to be awarded to reflect aptitude, experience, age and also the skill level of need in any given sector, to allow the UK to respond flexibly to changes in the labour market.

Financial securities for specific categories where there has been evidence of abuse to ensure that migrants return home at the end of their stay.

What does this actually mean for the healthcare sector?

The majority of the staff which we bring into the UK for the healthcare industry will fall into the tier 2 applications. This is skilled people (NVQ level 3) with a job offer.

All tier 2 applications will be subject to the following.

• Valid Sponsorship Certificate
• Qualifications at NVQ level 3 or above
• Good level of English
• Prospective earnings planned at 15-18k (this will be on a relative basis for the healthcare sector)
• Must be a shortage occupation which will be governed by the Skills Advisory Body (SAB) with an annual shortage list updated every 6months.
•  If the occupation is not on the shortages list the job will have to go through the Resident Labour Market Test to prove it cannot be filled by EU or resident workers. I urge you to send an email to pointsbased.comments@indhomeoffice.gsi.gov.uk and express your concerns, if you agree that Senior Care Assistants are a shortage occupation in the UK
• Settlement will be allowed after 5 yrs
• Leave to enter will be linked to the length of the employment contract

Sponsorships

The government are now moving the focus away from the candidates and placing the responsibility towards the employers who will have to gain a valid sponsorship certificate from the Home Office. The sponsorship certificate will act as an assurance from the sponsor that the applicant has the ability to do the job.

This will replace the subjective criteria currently set by work permit teams that there is an actual job requirement at the level stated. As many of you are aware the work permit teams currently refuse applications due to them thinking the jobs described for Senior Care Assistants in both nursing and care homes are not of a supervisory nature.

All sponsors will have to pass the minimum requirements set by the Home Office to prove they are a trusted employer similar to the current system of providing home registration certificates, invoices, annual reports etc…..

Checks will be carried out on sponsors NOT candidates. This means the whole process is the responsibility of the employer. If a sponsor is found to have problems they will be struck off from the list and cut out of the system. E.G if sponsors do not inform the Home Office that a candidate has left, they could be struck off the list as a sponsor.

Once a Sponsorship Certificate has been gained by an employer the Home Office will trust that they will only employ candidates who can fulfill the job as required. This will be act of good faith from the Home Office. Sponsors will be rated in terms of their track record and policies and more points will be given for higher rated sponsors.

Conclusion

There have been many reports which have come about from the proposed new points system.

One article in particular from Healthcare Biweekly concluded that the new points system could be bad news for overseas care workers and we at GRB Ltd have had many clients call in with concerns over this article regarding skills, salary and qualifications.

Senior Care Assistant Shortages

We have known for some time now that the Home Office do not recognise Senior Care Assistants as a shortage occupation, which means the aforementioned Resident Labour Market Test will come into play which is currently used in the current Work Permit system whereby employers advertise for a minimum of 28days in an appropriate national newspaper, professional journal or other means readily available throughout the EEA, within the last 6months, copies of these advertisements will be sent in with the sponsorship applications to the Home Office.

I would again to urge all nursing and care homes to email your concerns about these shortages in the healthcare sector to pointsbased.comments@indhomeoffice.gsi.gov.uk and let them know what shortages you are facing so that they can advise the Skills Advisory Body correctly as we are all aware Senior Care Assistants should be on this list as there are not any UK or EU workers training up to fill these posts.

Salary

To put our client’s minds at rest we would like to advise you of the response from Tony McNulty – MP for Harrow when asked about the shortages in the healthcare sector and the growing concerns of the majority of employers who employ overseas workers.

The tier two applications for which most overseas Senior Care Assistants will come under will be assessed on salary which stated above is aimed to be at 15-18k, as many of you are aware this would mean that most Senior Care Assistants would not fit into this category however Tony McNulty stated that they are fully aware of the healthcare shortages, in fact they are the most significant shortages in the UK and that tier two applications would be reviewed on a relative basis and not solely on salary.

Qualifications

As stated by many other sources we are fully aware that the qualifications of both Indians, Filipinos etc are not equivalent to UK qualifications as stated by UKNARIC. However the diploma‘s and degrees gained in those countries are equivalent to at least an NVQ level 3 qualification in the UK, which is the desired minimum qualification level for tier 2 applications under the new points based system.

Global Resource Bureau Ltd View

We feel that the new system has many benefits over the old system in terms of clamping down on illegal immigrants and sending people home who are not offering the UK anything in the way of required skills.

It will also mean that the system will be one united decision rather than two separate system working from different criteria, Work Permits and Visa applications will be working from the same criteria unlike now where Work Permits may be granted and Visa refused or vice versa.

More clarification is needed on many points of the proposed new points system and we feel that the target of 2008 set by the government is unrealistic as this is a massive change to the whole immigration system. We have sent some questions to be answered to the email address aforementioned and will keep you posted on the outcome.

The Home Office will be conducting another meeting regarding the proposed system in summer 2006, which we will be attending and can advise our clients more nearer the time

GRB Ltd will be here as consultants to make sure that our clients will have all the correct policies and procedures in place to become certified sponsors as well as the necessary documentation for overseas staff, so that when checks are carried out by the Home Office employers are fully compliant with the new system.

More Information

• The Regulatory Impact Assessment A points-based system: making migration work for Britain
• The Command Paper A points-based system - making migration work for Britain
• A paper entitled Employers' use of migrant labour is available on the Research, Development and Statistics website.
• Written Ministerial Statement by the Home Secretary is available on the Home Office Press website.