In a move that could have a positive impact on health and safety, foreign workers hoping to fill skilled vacancies in Britain will have to meet strict new criteria under Home Office plans due to come into force this autumn.
The change — along with government plans detailed in the Draft Legislative Programme to tackle the UK’s skills shortage, such as setting up a statutory entitlement to apprenticeships for all suitably-qualified young people — was welcomed by construction union, UCATT.
General secretary, Alan Ritchie, told SHP: “All moves to ensure that a properly-qualified workforce is employed in construction are good news for health and safety. Workers who have little experience of construction sites are a risk to themselves and their fellow workers.”
UK companies will have to prove they cannot fill skilled posts with a resident worker, and show that the job has been advertised in the UK. Would-be migrants will generally need a job offer before they apply for a visa, for which they will be subject to a points quota. To obtain the points, they will need to prove they will be carrying out skilled work; speak a good standard of English; and will be earning more than £24,000, or have a decent qualification.
The announcement of the new rules coincided with the launch of a major report on vulnerable workers from the TUC, which argues for more proactive enforcement that targets rogue employers rather than waiting for complaints from insecure workers.
Hard Work, Hidden Lives found that working practices viewed as exploitative in the 19th century still exist today. It says the law needs to be changed to allow enforcement agencies, such as the HSE and the minimum wage enforcement unit of HM Revenue & Customs, to work closer together, and calls for an extension to the Gangmasters’ Licensing Authority’s (GLA’s) licensing regime to cover sectors likely to employ vulnerable workers.
The CBI’s deputy director-general, John Cridland, retaliated: “Extending the licensing regime to sectors beyond agriculture would impose extra costs and bureaucracy on good employers, yet the evidence to date suggests that it has failed to stamp out rogue agencies.”
http://www.vulnerableworkers.org.uk
