The Home Secretary, Sajid Javid has asked the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to scrap plans to impose a £30,000 salary threshold on EU citizens coming into the UK after Brexit.
Javid has instead asked the MAC to consider allowing companies to pay the “going rate” for foreign workers, whilst also taking into consideration regional salary levels. The committee’s proposals were published in October 2018 and included in the Government’s Immigration White Paper.
The National Federation of Builders (NFB) welcomes the home secretary’s initiative to scrap the arbitrary £30,000 salary threshold for EU migrants after Brexit in favour of a more flexible approach to immigration. Such a threshold would create an additional barrier to building new homes and make life harder for SMEs and regional contractors, particularly at a time when the construction industry continues to face significant shortages of skilled workers.
Richard Beresford, chief executive of the NFB said:
“The Government needs to understand the high value of construction workers to the economy, when deciding the immigration rules for EU workers after Brexit.
“Faced with the most significant housing crisis in seventy years and acute skills shortages, the Government must adopt a flexible approach to immigration that allows companies to continue to access skilled labour from our closest neighbouring countries, whilst also fostering the training of home-grown talent.”