Call for Evidence Regarding Brexit Released

Following the Home Secretary's commissioning letter last week, the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) has today released a Call for Evidence with questions about the potential social and economic impacts of the United Kingdom's exit from the European Union and how the UK immigration system could be aligned with a modern industrial strategy.

The deadline for responses and evidence to be submitted to the MAC is October 27, 2017.

Background

The Call for Evidence is a document that requests responses and consultation from the public that the MAC will consider as part of its response to the Home Office’s commissioning paper.  

The document is accompanied by a briefing note that contains some preliminary analysis on the UK labour market and the migration systems of other countries by way of comparison.

The Questions

The Call for Evidence is broken down into three categories of questions:

• European Economic Area (EEA) Migration Trends

• Recruitment Practices, Training & Skills

• Economic, Social and Fiscal Impacts

The questions employers will see in the document are extremely broad in nature, including topics such as:

• Characteristics of the employer’s EEA workforce in the United Kingdom and how this differs from UK and non-EEA workforce;

• Whether there has been a change in the employer’s pattern of EEA migration to the United Kingdom since 2000;

• Has the employer conducted an assessment on the impact of a possible reduction in the availability of EEA migrants as part of the UK workforce;

• Advantages and disadvantages of employing EEA workers;

• If new immigration policies restrict the numbers of low-skilled migrants who can work in the United Kingdom, which forms of migration into low-skilled work should be prioritised; and

• What are the economic, social and fiscal costs and benefits of EEA migration to the UK economy and whether these differ from non-EEA migrants, by sector, region, occupation or skill level.

What This Means for Employers

This consultation could have significant ramifications for businesses in a post-Brexit UK immigration system. This is especially crucial for employers that rely on resourcing from the EEA where local British staff cannot be found.

Clients are strongly advised to respond to the consultation and set out as clearly as possible, with evidence, the impact that a restriction on the ability to recruit and retain EEA nationals could have on their UK operations post Brexit.

Fragomen can guide clients through the consultation period and will provide support to help businesses gather evidence and submit a response.

This alert is for informational purposes only. If you have any questions, please contact the global immigration professional with whom you work at Fragomen or send an email to [email protected].