Scottish Hospitality Sector hit by new immigration rules
In many instances, and particularly outside of London, the £38,700 threshold exceeds the average annual salary and is ‘simply unaffordable’ for many hotels, pubs, bars and restaurants
Hospitality businesses in Scotland looking to hire overseas talent at a time when domestic recruitment can be difficult, are now facing a “new hurdle” following the UK government’s implementation of new salary thresholds in early April, according to immigration lawyers Fragomen.
Under the new rules, hospitality businesses who look to the Skilled Worker visa route to bring overseas talent to fill key roles will need to pay those workers at least £38,700; an increase of almost 50% over the previous salary threshold of £26,200 and far more than the average salary across large parts of the country.
Kelly Hardman, senior manager at Fragomen has stated that in addition to the increases, the going rate of pay for specific occupations will increase to the median rate based on equivalent roles.
She said: “For example, the going rate for a chef, as well as for a manager of a bar, restaurant, or café, has been raised to nearly £31,000. But businesses will be required to pay the higher £38,700 base level to hire into these roles via the Skilled Worker sponsorship route unless the worker qualifies for a discount as a ‘new entrant’ (i.e under 26).”
Hardman added that the new thresholds have the potential to “negatively impact” the UK economy and deliver another blow to an industry that is already suffering and seeing their bottom lines erode.
In many instances, and particularly outside of London, the £38,700 threshold exceeds the average annual salary and is “simply unaffordable” for many hotels, pubs, bars and restaurants.
Hardman added: “In the past year, the costs of both making a visa application, as well as the associated mandatory payment to use the NHS (the Immigration Health Surcharge) have increased exponentially. Coupled with these new heightened salary levels, one would question whether the system has now become too prohibitively expensive for this hospitality sector to access altogether. This is particularly ill-timed given the well-reported rising overheads and hiring struggles faced by many businesses
“The UK Government’s five-point plan to lower net migration is a clear driver to these recent changes and calls into question whether these motivations are superseding the needs of struggling businesses that are underpinning this sector of the UK economy.”
