This week the Government announced their plans for the UK’s post-Brexit immigration system, featuring a points-based system and reduced salary thresholds. With the UK now having left the EU, EU and non-EU citizens will follow the same immigration route upon its implementation on the 1st of January 2021.
It is important to note that this signifies only the first phase of the changes to be made to the future immigration system, with the Home Office continuing to make refinements.
Key highlights include:
- Reducing the minimum salary threshold from £30,000 to £25,600
- Removing the resident labour market test
- Removing the cap on the number of people who can enter through the skilled worker route
- A points-based system where prospective migrants will need to achieve 70 points overall to successfully attain a visa.
- Mandatory points must be acquired on sufficient English language skills, a job offer, and a job at an appropriate skill level.
If a candidate’s salary offer is lower than the £25,600 threshold, they can instead get extra points if they match one of the following:
(1) having a job on the MAC’s Shortage Occupation List
(2) a PhD in a subject relevant to the job
(3) a PhD in a STEM subject relevant to the job.
The Government’s emphasis on a high-skilled, high-productivity economy suits what the games industry already requires and offers, with the BFI’s 2018 Screen Business report revealing that games were shown to have the highest productivity jobs of all the screen sectors - meaning each person we employ gives more back to the economy than other screen sectors.
Spearheading innovation and sitting at the heart of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the games industry leads the way in using emerging technologies, but this requires highly-skilled talent that cannot always be fulfilled domestically.
On top of this, as an entertainment industry, the creative and cultural contribution of a diverse workforce cannot be overstated. It is unsurprising that, as a result, the industry is highly international with our recent UK games Industry Census demonstrating that 19% of workers in the sector are from the EEA with a further 9% from the rest of the world, significantly above the national average.
The skills needed in games, technology and other future-facing sectors are in high demand, and the UK is constantly competing internationally to attract the best talent around the globe. With EEA workers joining the rest of the world in visa routes from 2021, it is vital that a future immigration system allows the UK games sector to attract the brightest talent it needs to continue to be a world leader in interactive entertainment.
The reduction in salary threshold, as recommended by Ukie, will be beneficial for the games industry – particularly as the sector is well distributed across the UK. The removal of other barriers like the resident labour market test and the cap on the number of people who can enter via the skilled worker route is all positive news.
The planned points-based system is not too dissimilar from what exists currently in that mandatory characteristics must still be met; but providing the opportunity for people who may not reach the salary threshold to still get a visa by meeting some other characteristics is a welcome move. Particularly, the ability to bypass the salary threshold by having a job on the Shortage Occupation List, especially following its expansion after we pushed for more games jobs roles to be included, is good to see.
However, such additional characteristics should be expanded to include experience. As an industry built on innovation and newly emerging skills, the jobs of the future do not exist today and so are not catered for yet in formal higher education courses. Despite how highly-educated the games industry is with 81% of employees educated to degree level or above, PhD holders represent only a fraction of the sector at 2%. We hope that additional characteristics will be introduced to reflect this to ensure a sufficient talent pipeline is coming into the industry.
A forward-facing immigration system that needs to foster innovation must also recognise the need for fluidity in employment. The mandatory requirement for a firm job offer as well as a requirement to speak English could be detrimental to careers of the future. Allowing both employers and employees to adapt in an immigration system can be hugely beneficial in building the UK as a world leader in innovation and technology. Ultimately, allowing the best talent around the world to access the UK’s labour market as seamlessly as possible is essential to the strength of our sector.
Introducing a new immigration system will inevitably cause a burden to businesses in comparison to free movement. Given that 99.5% of games companies in the UK are SMEs this extra burden may yet prove to put the UK at a disadvantage. We hope that further refinements made to the proposed system will help games companies to attract and keep the people it needs to ensure that the UK is firmly on track to be the best place in the world to make, sell, and play games.
As always we are here to answer any questions you might have and please email Grace if you would like to be part of our policy work.
Dr Jo Twist OBE, CEO of Ukie, said in response:
"The UK Games Industry has hugely benefitted from being able to attract the brightest and the best international talent.
Today’s announcement on a forthcoming points based immigration system provides ambitious UK businesses with some much needed clarity on future arrangements.
It is encouraging to see the Government taking on board recommendations to lower the minimum salary threshold and removing the resident labour test.
There remain, however, significant questions over process, additional burden to business and eligibility requirements.
Getting answers on these points will help set the course of our fast moving, innovative creative sector and we look forward to hearing more in due course.'"