4 June 2018

The results for the May restricted certificate of sponsorship (RCoS) panel have been published and the cap has been met again, for the sixth time in a row. Applications submitted within the May panel with salaries of under £55,000 per annum have been refused (with the exception of roles that are either listed on the shortage occupation list, roles identified as PhD level, certain public service occupations (not including doctors) and certain new graduate roles). This is an increase from the minimum salary of £50,000 required to obtain an RCoS within the April 2018 panel.

What does this mean for sponsors
Rejected applicants can apply again within June 2018 panel however they will need to ensure that the Resident Labour Market Test (RLMT) that they are relying upon is still valid (in most cases it will only be valid for a six month period), if not they will need to re-run their advertising campaign. Sponsors may wish to look at increasing the guaranteed salary on offer, provided that it is in line with the salary specified within the RLMT advertising campaign, with the caveat that unusual increases to the salary on offer could lead to the Home Office questioning the genuineness of a role.

What can we expect going forward
The cap of 20,700 RCoS per year is split into monthly allocations, with a larger number of RCoS being available between the April to September months, to take into account increased demand during this period. Despite the increased number of RCoS available since April, the cap continues to be met and in fact the minimum salary threshold has increased since April. The summer months will likely see an increased demand in RCoS from large businesses wishing to recruit graduates to commence work in their September intakes and therefore we can only predict that demand will once again exceed supply.

The British Medical Association has already warned that the RCoS cap was ‘threatening patient care and safety’ as critical medical staff have not met the threshold and consequently cannot be recruited. Surely if we get to the stage where large organisations cannot recruit the highly skilled graduates they require this September coupled with the fact that our hospitals cannot recruit critical medical staff it is obvious that the system is in dire need of an update. In fact we have already seen representatives from British IT, engineering, media and other bodies call for change.