On the one hand, Prime Minister Liz Truss signalled a relaxation of visa rules to make it easier for businesses to employ overseas workers and address acute personnel shortages. On the other hand, Home Secretary Suella Braverman has proclaimed a desire to reduce the number of visas issued.

In an interview last week, she said there are too many low-skilled workers coming into this country including “a really high number” of dependents of students who are working in low-skilled jobs.

“They're not contributing to growing our economy. We want people with high skills, we want people with tech qualifications… What we don’t want is a steady stream of cheap foreign labour,” she said.

This brings her at odds with many businesses, which are struggling to recruit within the UK labour force, and which desperately need staff to grow. Most of these vacancies are for positions that are classified as low skilled.

Indeed, the home secretary has shown a primary focus on illegal immigration, and in particular the issue of small boats crossing the English Channel. This has created a vacuum of information for recruiters. Firms grappling with personnel shortages want to know that their concerns and problems are being addressed. Instead, they are met with confusion and mixed messages from different government departments.

So, what can the government, and particularly the home secretary, do?

1. Act swiftly and decisively. Recent figures show that visas for skilled workers are at an all-time high. However, there are still an estimated 1.3m vacancies in the country and businesses across the spectrum, from hospitality to IT, continue to struggle to fill roles, hampering productivity and further expansion. The government has made growth and productivity the central plank of its economic policy. The issue of manpower shortages has been rumbling on since Brexit and then the pandemic. So far there have been a few tweaks, which have been piecemeal. It is time to be bold.
2. Review the shortage occupation list to include roles where shortages are most acute. The skills threshold for visa applications in these roles could also be lowered to make it easier for applicants to qualify.
3. Expand the system of temporary visas to address seasonal shortages, including temporary visas for hospitality and travel, in the same way they apply for seasonal farm workers, HGV drivers and meat processing workers.
4. Streamline the visa system. Delays and confusion can mean businesses miss out on employing workers from abroad who move to countries with less bureaucratic systems. Indeed, some of the latest changes to the immigration system have complicated the application process further.
5. Look at what competitor nations are doing differently to lure skilled workers and make sure the UK is ahead of the game. For example, it is reported that the German Government is working on a new law that will enable skilled foreign workers to gain citizenship there after only three years. In the UK, the quickest a migrant worker on a skilled worker visa can gain British citizenship is six years. Settlement is a huge motivating factor for skilled migrants and a quicker route to settlement will give employers a recruitment advantage. 

Yash Dubal is director at A Y & J Solicitors.

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