Unpacking the UK’s Latest Statement of Changes and its Impact on Immigration Opportunities and Restrictions: A Case of Seeing the Wood from the Trees and Appreciating the Light 

This blog discusses the recent Statement of Changes to the UK immigration rules, shedding light on the potential benefits and opportunities for key sectors crucial to the country's economic growth. It emphasises the possibility for sectors to obtain preferential access to the UK’s immigration system, which has become more stringent and costly, to acquire necessary labour and talent from overseas. 

The Latest Statement of Changes (The Wood) 

At 300 pages, the Statement of Changes (SOCs) laid on 14 March 2024 is a formidable document. Its central headline is the introduction of increased income requirements across work and family routes by dint of either increasing thresholds directly or by applying updated earnings data. These changes are intended to give effect to the government’s ‘five-point plan’ that was announced last December, intended to reduce net migration.   

Developments and their Impacts (the Trees) 

These changes make the UK immigration system increasingly restrictive and expensive. However, some contextual gold nuggets may have been lost in the density of the latest SOCs and overtaken from apprehension by the key price-increasing headline taken from it.   

First, these latest SOCs widen the concept of ‘Supplementary Employment’ specifically for those in the Skilled Worker routes, giving this very large group greater flexibility to engage in activities beyond that which they are sponsored for – in other words, unleashing a new energy to this cohort to undertake entrepreneurial or creative activity, important for UK growth and development.   

Second, in introducing the new Immigration Salary List (the replacement for the Shortage Occupation List), these SOCs add two fishing and agriculture occupations (5119 and 9119) to that list against the recommendation of the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) - the government’s independent advisor on migration policy.  

According to the Home Secretary's letter sent to the MAC on the same day as the SOCs were laid, this is on the basis that, though the government shared MACs concerns including the over-reliance on immigration in these sectors, the government considered these sectors needed further support whilst non-immigration solutions were being considered.   

Third, though these SOCs removed references to shortage occupations from the Creative Worker route, the government did not subject this route to a salary requirement (as MAC had recommended) because (again according to the Home Secretary's letter) to do so was considered incompatible with “the diverse and often short-term nature of roles within the creative industries. Instead, we will require that, where there is not a code of practice, workers coming in the route are making a unique contribution to the UK’s cultural life.”   

These are examples of the government appearing to be very sector-sensitive, providing sector-focused help in accessing immigration as a tool of support. This potentially bodes well for how the government may go forward utilizing the ISL.   

Fourth, the Home Secretary, in his letter to the MAC, also reiterated the intention of the government to commission a full review of the ISL during 2024 that would include “a full, public call for evidence.” The ISL introduced by the SOCs was the result of a rapid review without any stakeholder engagement; and its purpose was assumed to be the same as that of the old SOL.  

The MAC has already confirmed that, in conducting any fuller review of the ISL, it will first seek clarification from the government as to what it considers the purpose of the new ISL to be – is it simply to assist the recruitment of occupations in shortage (as was the target of the current SOL the ISL was replacing) or is the purposes of it to more broadly assist sectors that meet more strategic public value criteria?   

This also creates the enticing prospect of the ISL including occupations much more broadly captured for beneficial treatment because they are regarded as those in sectors important to the future of the UK or which are regarded to need help.   

Looking Ahead (the Light) 

The occasion of the full review of the ISL may be when the government sets out a strategic plan for the use of immigration for the future of UK growth and for the support of sectors crucial to that growth through preferential access to the Immigration system.   

Therefore, while the new SOCs do introduce some new concerns for users of the UK immigration system—requiring more significant fore-planning and strategic navigation—they also provide some indication of a system trying to be sensitive to sector needs, with the prospect of offering more sector-specific support.  

As mentioned in previous blogs (here and here), the UK migration system remains at-the-ready for further shaping, with users legitimately empowered to shape it, and should prepare to do so.     

Need to know more?  

For further information on how Fragomen can help individual sectors engage with the UK government or otherwise review migration programmes to navigate changes, please contact UK Government Affairs Strategy Lead and Senior Manager Shuyeb Muquit at [email protected].  

This blog was published on 18 March 2024, and due to the circumstances, there are frequent changes. To keep up to date with all the latest updates on global immigration, please subscribe to our alerts and follow us on LinkedIn, X, Facebook and Instagram.