Recruiters welcome Vince Cable’s calls to scrap cap on skilled worker visas
30 September 2014
News that Vince Cable has called on the government to abolish the cap on skilled worker visas has been welcomed by recruiters grappling with skills shortages.
Tue, 30 Sep 2014 | By Nicola Sullivan
News that Vince Cable has called on the government to abolish the cap on skilled worker visas has been welcomed by recruiters grappling with skills shortages.
As Recruiter reported yesterday, the business secretary wrote to home secretary Theresa May warning that restrictions on workers from outside the EU were starting to damage the economic recovery.
Cable’s call resonates with David Smith, founder of gaming recruiter Interactive Selection, who said the success of a video game depends on being able to recruit the best talent in the world.
He told Recruiter: “If the game isn’t a hit then the company doesn’t make money and in a lot of cases they can lose staff or the company can close. Among a team of 50 or 100 people an employer will looking to hire two or three of the very best people in the world to ensure the game is successful.”
Smith added that international talent was “critical” for the UK’s gaming industry to sell games across the world to as “large an audience as possible”.
Meanwhile, HCL Workforce Solutions managing director client solutions Claire Billenness, said the £153.5k salary threshold below which jobs are subject to a cap on visas creates challenges when recruiting for the NHS. While the threshold may not jeopardise the appointment of high level consultants, it restricts a large number of sought-after staff such as specialist nurses and junior doctors.
She told Recruiter: “When we look at the specialist categories of workers within the medical space we need people that have been trained in a way that is as closely aligned with the NHS as possible and that is why we often look in India, Australia and New Zealand.”
A review of quotas on skilled workers, said Billenness, would be welcome but any changes made needed to be done responsibly. She advocated that a points-based system should be used to assess an international worker’s skills and value.
News that Vince Cable has called on the government to abolish the cap on skilled worker visas has been welcomed by recruiters grappling with skills shortages.
As Recruiter reported yesterday, the business secretary wrote to home secretary Theresa May warning that restrictions on workers from outside the EU were starting to damage the economic recovery.
Cable’s call resonates with David Smith, founder of gaming recruiter Interactive Selection, who said the success of a video game depends on being able to recruit the best talent in the world.
He told Recruiter: “If the game isn’t a hit then the company doesn’t make money and in a lot of cases they can lose staff or the company can close. Among a team of 50 or 100 people an employer will looking to hire two or three of the very best people in the world to ensure the game is successful.”
Smith added that international talent was “critical” for the UK’s gaming industry to sell games across the world to as “large an audience as possible”.
Meanwhile, HCL Workforce Solutions managing director client solutions Claire Billenness, said the £153.5k salary threshold below which jobs are subject to a cap on visas creates challenges when recruiting for the NHS. While the threshold may not jeopardise the appointment of high level consultants, it restricts a large number of sought-after staff such as specialist nurses and junior doctors.
She told Recruiter: “When we look at the specialist categories of workers within the medical space we need people that have been trained in a way that is as closely aligned with the NHS as possible and that is why we often look in India, Australia and New Zealand.”
A review of quotas on skilled workers, said Billenness, would be welcome but any changes made needed to be done responsibly. She advocated that a points-based system should be used to assess an international worker’s skills and value.
Recruiter is currently in the process of obtaining more information from the business secretary’s special advisors on what his next move will be regarding the issue and whether he will push for a formal review to be carried out on the skilled-worker visa cap.
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