25 June 2019

The Home Secretary, Sajid Javid yesterday commissioned the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to review the current minimum salary threshold of £30,000 for skilled migrants in the UK. The commission comes after the Government’s publication of the Immigration White Paper in December 2018, in which it accepted most of the MAC’s recommendations in its ‘EEA migration in the UK’ report, published in September 2018 which formed the basis of the new immigration system set to take effect from 2021.

The Government has asked the MAC to advise on the following specific areas:

• whether there should be a single minimum salary threshold, potentially with some flexibility to set a lower rate (without the additional requirement to meet market rates for specific occupations);
• whether the current arrangement of a combination of a minimum salary threshold and a ‘going rate’ for specific occupations should remain;
• whether the Government should adopt an approach which focuses only on the market rate for a particular role,
• whether regional variations to the salary threshold should be introduced to account for regional disparity in wages; and/or
• whether specific exemptions should apply for example based on whether:
  • role is on the shortage occupation list;
  • migrant is recruited for a role in a sector that provides high public value to society and the economy but which might not necessarily pay as high wages;
  • migrant is a new entrant to a specific occupation;
  • to extend the scope for non-cash remuneration to count towards salary thresholds, including equity shares and benefits in kind such as accommodation and transport; and
  • whether part-time workers should benefit from pro-rated salary threshold.

The commission is now under way with a final report expected in January 2020.

How we can assist
Laura Devine Solicitors will be taking part in this consultation and helping many of our clients make their views known. We will circulate further details of our consultation initiatives in due course.