Plan to recruit non-EU staff is ‘too complex'
The long-awaited Government scheme to plug the unskilled worker shortage by recruiting people from outside the European Union has come under fire from lawyers and the hospitality industry for being far too complex to administer.
Under the Sectors Based Scheme, launched last week, up to 10,000 young non-EU nationals will be able to come into Britain on one-year permits to work in the hospitality industry.
The scheme is aimed at employees from Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary and Slovakia, and will grant employers permits once they have proved they can't fill the vacancy within the UK and have advertised at JobCentres for 28 days.
But potential employers will also have to pay £74 for a permit and fill in a 13-page application form before employees even get to the UK, stipulations which render the scheme unworkable, according to Steve Wilkins, managing director of Lewis & Clarke.
His chain of five gastropubs in central London employs 120 people. "In terms of administration and red tape," he says, "it sounds as if it is giving with one hand, taking away with another. I don't think encouraging unskilled labour from abroad is a long-term solution. It should be about attracting young people into the industry."
Jennifer Lambe, an immigration specialist at lawyers Mishcon de Reya, warns that firms which want to use the scheme will need to stick very closely to the rules. "It is a new scheme and it is tricky," she says.
For those new to dealing with work permits, she advises: "Get a lawyer."
Martin Couchman, of the British Hospitality Association, believes that most of the new workers will come from Hungary and Poland, which are among the 10 countries that will join the EU next year, so entry permits will be relatively easy to obtain. Potential employers can advertise blocks of vacancies at a time to speed up the process.
The scheme will be reviewed with the industry over the next year.
Sectors based scheme
How the scheme will work
* Employers will first need to advertise their vacancies for a minimum of four weeks in the UK and the European Union.
* Employers will need to obtain a Sectors Based Scheme permit, costing £74, to employ a named applicant from a non-EU country.
* The applicant will need to apply for an entry visa to the UK from his or her country of origin, even if they are not normally required to do so.
* Employers will be able to employ the applicant for one year only.
* Employers must let the Home Office know if the employee leaves during the year, or if they know or suspect that the employee has not left the country after expiry of the permit.
* The employee must leave the country for a minimum of two months after expiry before being allowed to make a further application.
