As the sun begins to shine and the UK holiday season gets under way, one of the biggest challenges for many hospitality businesses continues to be getting the staff needed to run the business at the busiest time of the year.
With a shortage of local people able to fill posts, particularly in more rural areas, how can employers, post-Brexit use the UK immigration system to plug recruitment gaps?
Immigration Law – understanding 3 basic tenets for international recruitment
There are three basic tenets of UK immigration law. Firstly, only British and Irish citizens have an automatic right to live and work in the UK. Secondly, while everyone’s immigration permission is unique to them, it falls into two categories- those who have blanket immigration permission to do any type of job and those who have restricted immigration permission. Thirdly, post-Brexit, the main mechanism for international recruitment will be via sponsorship and the skilled worker visa.
Turning to the second tenet, visa-holders who have immigration permission in a non-sponsored routes. These include those who are here on a partner visa, a dependant of a Points-Based System Migrant and someone here on a UK Ancestry Visa. International students also fall into this category. Most students are allowed to work up to 20 hours during term time and then full-time during vacation. Hospitality employers may wish to consider the Register of licensed sponsors to see if any local further education colleges or Universities are currently sponsoring international students and would be open to advertising vacation positions.
Recruiting through sponsorship
The third tenet relates to recruitment through sponsorship. A sponsor licence is a licence which enables employers to recruit international staff. The employer applies for a sponsor licence and, once the licence is in place, uses the licence to recruit international hires, both from within the UK and overseas.
A sponsor licence involves an investment in both time and money, although not perhaps as much as some might think. The cost of applying for a sponsor licence, which lasts for four years, is £536 for a small business and £1,476 for medium or large businesses. The employer must also comply with a number of sponsor duties in exchange for holding a sponsor licence. In addition there are costs involved in the employee’s visa.
Sponsor licence holders report a number of benefits in sponsoring employees, including high retention rates, either no or minimal absenteeism and the advantages of a more diverse workforce.
It should be noted that sponsorship cannot be used to fill all hospitality roles, only those that the Home Office deem to be sufficiently “skilled”. For example, chefs and spa managers meet the skills threshold, waiting staff do not.
Although, the immigration landscape has fundamentally changed, there are still options within the immigration system, which allow employers to fill roles with international staff.
Businesses who require further information and advice in respect of obtaining or maintaining their Sponsor Licence or other visa routes should contact our specialist Immigration team on 03330 430350 for further information and advice. If you have questions or concerns about implementing a hybrid working policy in your organisation our Employment team can be contacted on 03330 430350.
