Recruiters say today’s implementation of tiers two and five of the points-based immigration system could hit placement numbers as early as January. 

Vicky Wright, education service manager at education recruiter Blue Wave, told Recruiter: “I don’t think any of the schools we deal with have received the certificates of sponsorship yet. We are trying to place people now for January and we can’t because they don’t have a licence yet.”

Wright blamed the lack of information and clarity from the Home Office for the dearth in licensed schools.

Immigration experts Jones Kelleher & Associates told Recruiter it is taking between six and eight weeks for applications to be processed and estimated only 10% of businesses were ready for the changes.

When contacted by Recruiter at the end of October the Home Office said it had only issued just over 1,000 tier two sponsorship licences, but that thousands more were being processed.

Under tier two, which covers skilled workers with job offers, employers have to sponsor employees from outside the EU and take on criminal liability and an increased administrative burden. Tier five covers youth mobility and temporary workers allowed to stay in the UK for a limited period of time.