New work-permit rules 'will help plug UK IT skills gap'

The UK IT industry has welcomed the government's new points-based immigration system, saying it will make it easier for businesses to fill genuine IT shortages by recruiting skilled workers from overseas.

The new five-tier system, which is expected to come into force from the middle of next year, will award points to those applying for visas and work permits based on qualifications, experience and age. Only those achieving the target points for their tier will get a work permit.

More needs to be done in terms of retraining, more in terms of attracting women into the IT workforce and more in making IT an attractive discipline and career option for students.

-- Nick Kalisperas, director of public sector, Intellect

Most overseas IT workers will fall into the top two tiers, covering 'highly-skilled' workers - such as entrepreneurs, doctors and IT specialists - who will be able to get a visa without a firm job offer, and 'skilled' migrants, with less specialised engineering and IT skills, who will need a job offer from the UK.

Home Secretary Charles Clarke said: "This new system will give employers and educational institutions a stronger role in the managed migration system and will introduce a more transparent and objective method of points-based structured decision-making."

UK IT industry body Intellect welcomed the new points-based system as a "positive" move by the government.

Nick Kalisperas, director of public sector at Intellect, told silicon.com: "It's a step in the right direction. It's important there is recognition that the industry needs staff from outside the EU."

But he said this is only part of the answer to addressing the shortage of some IT skills in the UK. "More needs to be done in terms of retraining, more in terms of attracting women into the IT workforce and more in making IT an attractive discipline and career option for students," he said.

The UK's Professional Contractors Group (PCG) also welcomed the new points-based system and said it will help stop companies hiring workers from overseas except where there is a genuine skills gap.

PCG chairman Simon Juden said in a statement: "Allowing the easy exploitation of workers from overseas might make for short-term cost savings but is not conducive to developing the skills of knowledge workers in the UK."