Ross Kennedy warns Personnel Today Immigration White paper will be a ‘major drag on sectors’

12 May 2025

Ross Kennedy, senior client manager at Vanessa Ganguin Immigration Law, told Personnel Today that the Immigration White Paper will make “one of the world’s most expensive immigration systems even more expensive for employers”.

Personnel Today summarised the key points from a White Paper that Keir Starmer said will require legislation and a “change in approach across government, industry and society as a whole”. (See article below.)

Commenting on the impact for employers, Ross Kennedy said: “If a skilled worker will need to be sponsored for ten instead of five years before they qualify for settlement, the Immigration Skills Charge alone will increase from £6,600 over five years to £13,200 (if the charge stays at the current level).

“The cost of sponsoring someone for 10 years after these changes are implemented will be more than double the current five years before they qualify for settlement. This extra cost – whether or not a sponsored employee moves to another employer within the ten years, will be a major drag on sectors relying on foreign recruitment, despite the Prime Minister’s assurances that the White Paper will not affect UK growth.”

The government estimates that the policies they have unveiled in their Immigration White Paper will reduce UK’s immigration figures (already on a downwards trajectory after a post-Brexit, post-pandemic spike that peaked in 2023) by roughly a further 98,000 a year.

Individually the proposals will discourage and prevent many immigrants – especially carers and those on lower-paid jobs. Together, these measures will have impacts far beyond curbing migrant workers, including on the sectors they work in.

From Publicans to Plasterers, Estate Agents to Interior Designers, Musicians to Managers of healthcare practices, we have counted 171 professions that will no longer qualify as skilled enough to come to the UK on the most used work immigration route, the Skilled Worker visa according to this week’s Immigration White Paper. We have listed these here so sectors can see how they will be affected by these changes.

For these occupations with a skills requirement of RQF3-5, there will be a Temporary Shortage List for sectors where “there have been long term shortages” – “temporary,” nonetheless as the government will only permit sectors to employ at this skill level “on a time limited basis where the Migration Advisory Committee has advised it is justified, where there is a workforce strategy in place, and where employers seeking to recruit from abroad are committed to playing their part in increasing recruitment from the domestic workforce.” Skills and training strategies will be expected to eventually fill such gaps in the labour market with resident workers.

If you are concerned about any upcoming UK immigration changes, please do not delay and contact us sooner rather than later. You can use the form below, email one of our lawyers or call 0207 033 9527.