Ross Kennedy explains which jobs will be hit by the White Paper and what employers can do

19 May 2025

Butchers are one of the professions that are on the chopping block when it comes to the UK Government’s restrictions on recruiting from abroad outlined in the Immigration White Paper unveiled by the Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Home Secretary Yvette Cooper last week. – As are bakers, boat builders, bricklayers, printers, publicans, plumbers, around 170 occupations that are at a skill level RQF3 – 5, which will no longer qualify for the Skilled Worker visa. The White Paper outlines a plan to restrict Skilled Worker visas – the most common immigration option businesses have for sponsoring overseas workers – so that only the most highly-skilled occupations will be able to come to work in the UK. You can find out how and a full list of the jobs that will be affected here.

The main changes that employers need to be aware of in the White Paper are:

• ending sponsorship of new care workers from overseas;
• raising minimum skill level to sponsor Skilled Workers to RQF6 (degree level in skill rather than educational attainment);
• limited, temporary sponsorship for lower-skilled shortage jobs for key sectors with workforce strategies around training, pay and conditions;
• increasing the annual immigration skills charge by 32%;
• raising minimum level for English language ability from ‘intermediate user’ to ‘independent user’
• shortening the graduate visa to 18 months; and
• doubling the time it takes to qualify to settle permanently to ten years

Ross Kennedy has written an explainer on which sectors are likely to be affected and what employers should do to mitigate the changes now and in the long-term in Personnel Today which you can read here. “The changes likely to have the biggest impact are the government’s choice to allow only the highest skilled migration, and the double-whammy cost increase in the immigration skills charge and doubling the duration of sponsorship needed to be allowed to stay permanently (which means twice the skills charge, twice the health surcharge and visa extension fees to boot),” writes Ross Kennedy.

If you would like to discuss any of the upcoming immigration changes and how they may affect you, please contact us. You can use the form below, email one of our lawyers or call 0207 033 9527.

Photo of butcher by Madie Hamilton on Unsplash