Monday saw the introduction of the interim cap on immigration, designed to avoid what Home Secretary Theresa May described as a ‘closing down sale for migrant workers.’
The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) is currently running a period of consultation with businesses to determine the final level of the cap.
How the cap will work for employers is [...]

The latest quarterly CIPD/KPMG Labour Market Outlook survey of almost 800 employers signals that the UK’s emergence out of recession is now leading to better job prospects. Yet it also reveals a stark difference between job prospects in the private and public sectors: while private sector employers are more optimistic about creating jobs in the [...]

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) has published analysis of the main workplace-related policies in the three main parties’ manifestos.
The briefings cover:
• Family friendly policies – flexible working, parental leave and the default retirement age (written by Mike Emmott, employee engagement adviser)
• Skills policies (written by Tom Richmond, skills adviser)
• Public sector reform [...]

The Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) has welcomed this week’s changes to the UK’s points-based immigration system.
According to the group, it was alerted by its members to a problem that arose from amendments made to Tier 1 of the Points Based System in early 2009 which restricted niche professionals.
It was believed those in the medical [...]

Widespread evidence of the mistreatment and exploitation of migrant and agency workers in the meat and poultry processing sector has been discovered by an Equality and Human Rights Commission inquiry.
Workers reported physical and verbal abuse and a lack of proper health and safety protection, with the treatment of pregnant workers a particular concern. Many workers [...]

The REC has been invited to chair the forthcoming ‘Employing and Vetting non-UK Nationals conference’ in London on Tuesday 9th March.  
This one-day conference, organized by Symposium Events, will feature practical case studies, workshops and up-to-date legal advice on the Points Based immigration system and how to check migrant workers for immigration purposes. The conference will [...]

Over the next ten years, HR professionals will play a “crucial” role in the “war for talent”, it has been claimed.
According to Friends Provident, the next decade will create a battleground for elite talent, meaning HR strategies are to become a more critical part of business recruitment operations than ever before.
In its Visions of Britain [...]

The CIPD and KPMG today release the migrant worker findings from their quarterly Labour Market Outlook survey, a week ahead of the ONS Migration Statistics Quarterly Report. The findings from the Labour Market Outlook survey show that the recession has not dampened employers’ enthusiasm for hiring migrant workers. Around one in five (19%) employers recruited [...]

Five suspected immigration offenders have been found working at a Torquay restaurant which has already been fined £30,000 for employing illegal staff. Immigration officers visited Oriental Touch, 21 St Marychurch Road, on Tuesday, 19 January after receiving intelligence of illegal workers there.
Entering the business at about 1730, officers checked the immigration status of staff and [...]

An influx of migrant workers has had an effect on the wages of the UK’s lowest paid workers, a new report has revealed.
According to the Equality and Human Rights Commission, over the past six years, some 1.5 million eastern Europeans have arrived in the UK, with the report, written by the Migration Policy Institute, suggesting [...]