Home Secretary Theresa May has announced that the number of skilled workers allowed into the UK from outside the EU is to be cut, which posed the question, could this affect contractors?
The cap will apply to highly skilled migrants and skilled workers in certain categories of job. It does not apply to workers from EU countries, who are free to take jobs in the UK and make up a third of all foreign born workers in the country.
Business fear the cap could stop them from filling vacancies at times of high demand. Contractors in the UK may see demand for their skills increase whilst the temporary cap is in place but it is also likely to negatively impact highly skilled contractors searching for contracts in the UK.
Shadow Home Secretary Alan Johnson told BBC News:
“You wonder what is the point of this, given that in this country at the moment, under our policy, if a company wants to bring a skilled worker in, they can do it if they have advertised that job for four weeks in Job Centre Plus and they are absolutely sure they can’t get a British worker to do it.”
Johnson is referencing the clampdown on the abuse of Intra Company Transfers (ICTs),which saw companies sourcing cheap skilled labour abroad to fill a position rather than looking to the highly skilled UK workforce to fill the position.
