Points-based work permits system from 2008

New system is designed to tackle the current abuses of work permits

The government will introduce a new points-based migration system from next year, aimed at tackling abuse of the current system for awarding work permits in areas such as IT.

The new scheme will divide work entry routes into five areas: tier one covers highly-skilled workers, such as entrepreneurs or scientists; tier two is skilled workers with a job offer; tier three covers low-skilled workers filling short-term vacancies in shortage areas; and tiers four and five are students and holiday workers respectively.

The points-based system was originally unveiled last March as a solution for tackling abuse of the work permits system and attracting more talent to the UK. The government has unveiled a staggered timetable for implementing the scheme, starting with highly-skilled workers at the start of 2008, followed by sponsored skilled workers – the area most likely to affect the IT sector - and holiday workers in the third quarter next year.

However, John Kell, political researcher at the Professional Contractors Group (PCG), said that the issue of intra-company transfers (ICTs) has yet to be resolved, despite a year having passed since details of the scheme were announced. ICTs are internal transfers from one organisation’s location to another.

“Currently ICTs are inside tier two. Firms are automatically allocated enough points to bring a worker from an overseas office to the UK, as is often used in IT offshoring,” Kell said. “Linking offshoring and ICTs in the system is difficult as we don’t think it should necessarily be down to the Home Office to decide whether the UK should be offshoring IT.”

Kell said that the PCG was still “fairly optimistic” about the new scheme, for example, the section that requires all jobs to be advertised in one central place before vacancies can be passed on to overseas workers. “At the moment, an IT job can be advertised for only a week at a low rate in a non-related publication,” he added.