Stricter visa rules to give firms headache amid skills shortage
Proposed changes to rules governing who can work in the UK threaten to exacerbate the skills shortage facing employers, the head of a major recruiting body has warned.
“Our data show that almost all businesses are operating at capacity and want to take on more staff to meet demand, but the reality is that chronic skills shortages are making this difficult,” Kevin Green, chief executive of the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC), said today.
“It’s concerning that instead of meeting this challenge, the government is making it harder for employers to bring in the people they need from overseas with the proposed changes to Tier 2 visas.”
It comes after 14 per cent of employers said they expect to see shortages in candidates for professional and managerial roles in the next year, an REC survey found, while 96 per cent of firms said they had little or no surplus capacity.
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