Personnel Today quotes Rose Carey on the latest ONS net migration figures

New figures from the Office for National Statistics indicate a 20% decrease in net migration to the UK, with the total standing at 728,000 for the year to June 2024. This is largely in part due to the increase in people leaving the UK, some 65,000, and the drop in international students.  

Addressing the skills gaps and immigration, sponsor licence numbers have risen by 44% year on year, and the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) is set to review skills shortages annually in key sectors. However, the UK is attracting fewer high-calibre foreign workers.

Rose Carey, Partner and Head of Immigration, highlights the need to determine the UK's ideal net migration level. She states:

The prime minister has commented that the net migration figure is still too high and made promises to reduce it further. Each successive government fails to address exactly what the right amount of net migration is based in the UK’s needs and aging population. Almost 20% of the UK population were aged over 65 in 2022, meaning nearly a fifth are over retirement age. This presents a problem not only for the care sector and the NHS in their ability to provide services for our aging population but also the economy and the shortage of workers generally.

Rose also pointed out the labour shortage in the UK, particularly in sectors like care, hospitality, construction, and manufacturing, with ONS reporting that over 13% of businesses experienced labour shortages. She mentioned Skills for Care's report indicating that 540,000 social care staff would be needed by 2040, with a current shortfall of 131,000 staff.

Rose adds:

The prime minister says he will ‘imminently’ publish a white paper that sets out a plan to reduce immigration. He says his government will turn things around, ‘not with gimmicks, but with graft.’ Let us hope that paper takes into account the realities facing the UK and deals with the problem of labour shortages at the same time.

Read the full piece in Personnel Today here.