Concerns for IT Contractors in Scotland
The Professional Contractors Group have raised concerns that Scottish bank workers are increasingly being replaced by migrants as large companies exploit a loophole in the immigration rules. According to a lobby group representing the interests of freelance workers and contractors, firms including Lloyds TSB, which owns HBOS and Royal Bank of Scotland are misusing a type of work permit to bring staff from overseas.
The PCG have said it is mainly IT workers who are on short contracts who are losing work to the new employees through intra-company transfers (ICTs). They were designed to allow movement of specialist staff between global offices of multinational companies without the need to go through the lengthy immigration process. The number of intra-company transfers in IT exceeds those of all other professional staffing sectors combined.
Gary Sharp, director of PCG and an IT contractor based in Scotland, said:
“Companies appear to be using these ICTs much more frequently to bring in workers, particularly in IT software development and the banking industry in Edinburgh. The problem is that, because of the recession, there is a much more limited amount of jobs and our members are being replaced.”
The PCG has written to Home Secretary Alan Johnson and Finance Secretary John Swinney to highlight the issues. They describe the use of ICTs by banks as “particularly galling” given that the UK Government owns large stakes in the beleaguered financial institutions.
Ann Swain, Chief Executive of the Association of Professional Staffing Companies is also campaigning for the rules to be changed, saying ‘Skills shortages in the IT sector are nowhere near as acute as they used to be. The UK labour market has the capacity to meet the vast majority of these requirements.’
A spokeswoman for the Home Office said that a review of ICTs would be published later this month, with the government due to report its findings in the autumn.
Filed under: Contractor News
