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New recommendations to raise UK shortage occupation list to higher skills level

News Release issued by the COI News Distribution Service on 03 March 2011

The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) has today recommended that eight job titles be removed from the UK shortage occupation list.

This follows the MAC's recommendation last month that 71 occupations be removed from the list of occupations that qualify for Tier 2 of the Points Based System. This is to meet the government's objective of raising the skill level of Tier 2 to National Qualifications Framework level 4 and above (NQF4+).

To bring the shortage occupation list into line with the rest of Tier 2 the MAC has recommended removing job titles including high integrity pipe welder, skilled meat boner and skilled meat trimmer and skilled senior care worker. The latter recommendation will not, however, affect care home managers and nurses working in care homes as these occupations are level NQF4+.

Some job titles are recommended for amendment. The MAC found that only a small proportion of chefs are skilled to NQF4+. Chef jobs on the list are, therefore, recommended to be restricted to those requiring a minimum of 5 years relevant experience and paying at least £28,260 per year.

Chair of the MAC, Professor David Metcalf, said:

"Placing limits on migration requires that we are far more selective and ensure only highly skilled migrant workers can come to work in the UK.

"For instance, only the top 5% of chef jobs will be open to Tier 2 workers under these recommendations as a result of a more stringent earnings threshold."

The MAC estimates these recommendations, if accepted, will mean Tier 2 applicants coming into the country via the shortage occupation route will only be eligible for approximately 230,000 jobs (less than 1 per cent of the labour market), down from 1 million jobs when the MAC produced its first shortage occupation list in 2008. The combined impact of these recommendations plus those made by the MAC last month will be that the proportion of jobs in the UK labour market at a skill level eligible for Tier 2 will fall from 56% to 39%.

The government will respond before 6 April 2011 to the MAC's recommendations.

NOTES TO EDITORS

1. Last month the MAC responded to the government's request to consider which Standard Occupational Classification codes should be considered as graduate level occupations for the purposes of Tier 2, using the National Qualifications Framework level 4 and above (NQF4+) as the benchmark. The MAC found 71 occupations did not meet this level and the list of occupations therefore should be reduced from 192 to 121. The full report can be viewed online here: http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/aboutus/workingwithus/indbodies/mac/reports-publications/

2. The MAC's full report on the revisions to the UK shortage occupations list, complete with methodology and evidence, can be viewed online here: http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/aboutus/workingwithus/indbodies/mac/reports-publications/

3. Of the 38 occupations represented on the UK shortage occupation list, 12 were found not skilled to NQF4+. The MAC considered job titles in each of these occupations (and, where applicable, subsets of the job titles) for removal from, or retention on, the list.

4. The full list of job titles found to be below the new requirement for Tier 2 and, therefore, recommended to be removed from the list is: high integrity pipe welder; airframe fitters; site supervisor within the electricity transmission and distribution industry; skilled meat boner and skilled meat trimmer; skilled work rider; skilled sheep shearer; and skilled senior care worker.

5. The MAC recommends the following job titles should stay on the list: commissioning engineer; production controller in the electricity generation industry; roles within visual effects and 2D/3D computer animation for film, television or video games; and licensed and military certifying engineer/inspector technician.

6. The MAC recommends that skilled chefs remain on the shortage occupation list, but subject to the more stringent criteria set out in the main press notice. It also recommends that overhead linesworkers working on high voltage lines only remain on the list.

7. As requested by the government, the MAC reviewed the shortage occupation list in this instance solely with the intention to remove jobs not skilled to NQF4+. Therefore, no consideration has been given in this report to wider questions, such as whether labour shortages remain; whether these jobs should still be filled with non-EEA migrants; or whether new occupations and jobs should be added list. The MAC would be content, if commissioned by the government, to carry out a review of such matters in due course.

8. All job titles considered for removal are on the UK shortage occupation list, which also applies to Scotland, meaning that no separate consideration of the Scotland shortage occupation list was required.

9. For more information or to request an interview with Professor Metcalf please call the Migration Advisory Committee Press Office on 020 7035 3535. Please note availability for interviews after 1pm is limited.

Contacts:

Home Office Press Office
Phone: 020 7035 3535
NDS.HO@coi.gsi.gov.uk