Union demands reduction in IT work permits

Amicus says workers from abroad may be undermining pay and conditions for UK professionals

The government is under pressure from the Amicus union to award fewer work permits for overseas IT workers, as new figures reveal that most such staff are paid substantially less than their UK counterparts.

According to an Amicus report published last week, 30,000 IT work permits were awarded last year, even though the total number of IT staff in the UK has been falling since 2001. It said two-thirds of permit holders were paid less than £30,000 per year – under the average UK salary for an IT worker of £32,500. Among software engineers, 90 percent of permit holders were earning below the national average.

Amicus said its findings show the IT industry is experiencing “an influx of short-term workers from abroad at the expense of resident UK professionals”. It added that it would write to Home Office ministers to seek assurances that the work permit scheme would not be abused and that the development of skills in the UK would be protected.

Peter Skyte, Amicus’ national officer for the IT sector, said the union wants action for three reasons: to ensure job opportunities for UK IT workers; to make sure that pay and conditions are not eroded by workers from abroad; and to create a climate where employers are encouraged to invest in long-term skills and training.

In an email response to IT Week, the Home Office failed to comment directly on Amicus’ requests, but said, “Work Permits (UK) require employers to demonstrate that they have sought to recruit from the resident labour market. Our objective is to ensure that we strike the right balance between safeguarding the interests of the UK resident work force and enabling UK employers to recruit or transfer skilled people from abroad in order to help them compete effectively in an international market.”

Skyte added that in principle Amicus supports the government’s proposal for a new points-based work permits system, which is currently going through a consultation process and would give priority to areas of skills shortages. “But we want to see our concerns addressed in the new scheme,” he said.

John Kell, political researcher at the Professional Contractors Group (PCG), said the organisation had been working with Amicus on this issue and broadly agreed with its concerns. “If workers are brought in from overseas, the permits should be issued on the basis on economic need,” he said.

Kell added that the proposed points-based system may reduce problems, but would not tackle the issue of intra-company transfers (ICTs), where employees are transferred from companies’ overseas offices. These account for three-quarters of IT work permits, according to Amicus.

“ICTs are a bit of a free-for-all at the moment,” Kell said. “The current proposals wouldn’t change that but we’ll continue to negotiate.” He added that the PCG was not aware of any particular areas of skills shortage at present, “though finding exactly the right person for the job can be difficult at the best of times”.

Meanwhile, the latest quarterly report from E-Skills UK indicates that many firms are not investing in IT training. More than a fifth of the 1,000 businesses surveyed said they did not plan to offer IT training this year, even though14 percent reported IT skills gaps, up from 12 percent last quarter. A fifth said they had difficulties finding suitable recruits.

Karen Price, chief executive of E-Skills, said she hoped these findings would “further encourage employers to take measures to invest in the long-term development of their IT professionals - identifying skills gaps and skills needs and offering training opportunities”.

Despite the problems, firms reported that on average they attracted 26 applicants for each externally advertised IT job, of whom three were fully qualified for the post. "As recruiters, if we provided three to five candidates for every role we would be doing our job well," said Richard Chorley, associate director at recruitment specialist Computer People.