After the recent announcement that British immigration will tighten its system to prioritise high-skilled workers, the hospitality industry has found itself in danger of a skills shortage. According to UKHospitality there will be a drop in low-skilled migration following Brexit - sure to have a significant impact on the industry.
“The new skills-based system will make sure low-skilled immigration is brought down and set the UK on the path to reduce immigration to sustainable levels, as we promised,” said Theresa May.
Kate Nicholls, UKHospitality chief executive said this announcement poses concerns regarding the future of the workforce within hospitality. “A system based solely on high skills and high wages will not work for hospitality where we have labour shortages.”
“The sector employs over three million people, many of them whom are migrant workers, but under the new policy, 90 percent of these roles could not be filled under planned changes. Many hospitality businesses have struggled to find willing British workers, and with changing demographics and low unemployment, we are facing the very real danger of chronic skills shortages.”
In the UK, low-skilled roles are defined as those that do not require education over the age of 16 or more than a small amount of training on-the-job. The Confederation of British Industry also views this change as restricting access to the workers the UK needs and sees it as self-defeating. The British Retail Consortium offered an opinion that the policy should base itself around the needs of the economy rather than drawing an arbitrary line based on skills or salaries.
“Operators will rightly be concerned about the potential for increased red tape and bureaucracy for job applicants, and there needs to be a transition period to give time for businesses to adapt,” said Nichols.
“UKHospitality has repeatedly flagged that it is illogical to place so much emphasis on the economic worth of individuals, rather than the wider benefits they bring to the UK. We will be pressing the government for a sensible and pragmatic lower-skilled migrant worker route for the hospitality sector.”
