Budget 2021: What do the new policies mean for employers?

Following the announcement of new policies within the government’s 2021 budget, People Management magazine asked HR and employment experts for their analyses of the proposals, the impact they could have and the questions that remain to be answered.

Written by Lauren Brown, published 4 March 2021  Read the article here

Migrate UK’s managing director Jonathan Beech was contacted for his assessment of the plans for a new fast-track visa scheme to help start-up and rapidly growing tech firms who want to attract talent from overseas. Jonathan was also asked to consider the proposal for an expansion of the Global Entrepreneur programme and a new Global Business Mobility visa. He noted the intended reviews of the Global Talent and Innovator routes.

The government announced a new visa route similar to the Global Talent route that replaced the old Tier 1 visa.

It is aimed at making it easier for firms to bring in highly skilled migrants from abroad, who will no longer need to obtain a third-party endorsement or be backed by a sponsor organisation. It is designed help grow the UK’s FinTech sector, and prize winners and people who hold scholarships will automatically qualify for this route.

Jonathan Beech Managing Director

Jonathan is cautiously optimistic about the move, but employers would have to wait to see how it worked in practice. He said: “Developing the UK’s expertise as a science superpower will need many more scientific superstars across science, research and tech to add to our existing talent pool. But we need to learn when the scheme will begin, the number of points required, plus any other qualifying criteria for this new highly skilled migrant visa.

“On simplifying the visa process for entrepreneurs, start-ups and scale-ups, this too could be welcomed, but again more needs to be learnt on how it will really work in practice.”