British businesses unprepared for post-Brexit immigration world

The beliefs are in sharp contrasts to pledges made by prime minister Theresa May during the election campaign. The Conservative manifesto reaffirmed previous government pledges to reduce migration to the tens of thousands and it remains unclear whether EU and European Economic Area (EEA) nationals will still have freedom of movement to the UK.

Immigration law expert Joanne Hennessy of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, said companies should be looking ahead and starting to plan for the future, despite the uncertainty.

A survey of employers carried out by think tank the Resolution Foundation showed 17% of companies expected no change to the current system of freedom of movement for EU and EEA nationals to the UK, while nearly a third (30%) expected to see that system maintained for those with a job offer.

Meanwhile 46% of employers did not expect any change in the number of EU nationals in their workforce in the coming 12 months, and 24% expected to see an increase in their migrant workforce. A similar number (26%) expected a decrease.

When it came to freedom of movement, businesses favoured either no change to the existing regime (38% of respondents) or allowing freedom of movement for any worker with a job offer (26%).

Hennessy said many sectors could be impacted by changes to immigration law post-Brexit, including construction, financial services, retail and hospitality which all employ high numbers of migrant workers from the EU.

“Higher education is probably the sector that's been the most proactive so far in terms of supporting staff already in the UK under free movement,” Hennessy said.

However Hennessy said many businesses were not changing their approach to recruitment from the EU until there was more certainty about the future regime.

“There's so much uncertainty about what we'll end up with,” said Hennessy. “Businesses should look at how this might affect their future recruitment and make contingency plans.”

Immediately after Brexit it emerged that international businesses in the UK had continued to recruit from the EEA. Figures obtained by Pinsent Masons showed  number of intra-company transfer visas granted by the Home Office in the six months after the Brexit vote increased by 3% when compared to the year before, up from 6,650 to 6,446.

However in May the Office for National Statistics reported that net migration had fallen to +248,000 at the end of last year, down from +332,000 the previous year. Net migration refers to the difference between immigration into and emigration out of the UK, and the 2016 figure was the lowest estimate of net migration since the year ending March 2014.

The figures showed a statistically significant increase in the number of those leaving the UK, particularly those from the EU.

Resolution Foundation policy analyst Stephen Clarke said there was a “stark gap” between what businesses wanted from a post-Brexit immigration system, and what the government had pledged to deliver.

Clarke said reconciling the differences was especially important for companies in sectors like agriculture, food manufacturing, hospitality and construction which rely heavily on migrant workers.