The government plans to limit the immigration of workers from outside the EU could result in skills shortages in key sectors.
The government is now consulting employers over a permanent annual cap to be introduced in April 2011.
The plan is to reduce the net migration which is the number of people who enter the UK minus the number who leave, and take it back to the levels of 1990’s – tens of thousands, not the hundreds of thousands it has been recently.
Government are consulting with businesses to find the best way of achieving the plan to introduce a limit on the number of non EU economic migrants.
The healthcare field, hospitality industry and education and technology sectors are expected to be directly affected by the rule changes, as professions on the official shortage list will be included in the restrictions.
Nikki Coppard, Director of HR operations at Lloydspharmacy has successfully lobbied for the return of the pharmacist role to the occupation shortage list in October, but still anticipates future problems. Nikki state “ typically, we have a greater reliance on overseas pharmacists in difficult to recruit areas of the country. A cap will have a significant impact on both recruitment and manpower planning in these areas”.
