Brian Berry, Chief Executive of the Federation of Master Builders (FMB), looks at some of the barriers facing small and medium-sized (SME) housebuilders in England.
It is widespread knowledge that the construction sector is facing a severe skills crisis. Worryingly, this crisis will likely get worse when our free-flowing tap of European migrant workers is turned off. Nine per cent of our construction workers are from the EU and in London, this rises to nearly one third.
This is why the construction industry is so concerned about the recent report from the Migration Advisory Committee, published in September. If taken on board by Government, the recommendations would pose a real problem for construction.
In the Construction Industry Brexit Manifesto, pulled together by seven of the construction industry’s major trade bodies, the sector told the Government that any future migration visa system should be based on key occupations that are in short supply rather than on arbitrary thresholds based on skill levels or income. Yet, the recommendation in this recent report is to apply the immigration system that currently applies to non-EU workers (the Tier 2 system) to EU workers.
‘Clunky’ system
The Tier 2 system is an extremely bureaucratic model under which employers have to find and sponsor migrant workers they wish to employ. SME employers will face difficulties navigating this clunky system, and for an industry like construction where these size firms make up a large per cent of all employment, this is a real problem.
Under the recommendations, it is unclear as to whether vital, experienced skilled workers like bricklayers and carpenters will even qualify for the Tier 2 route, if they can’t prove they have level 3 equivalent qualifications. The report stipulates that there should be no migration route for lower skilled workers apart from a potential exception for seasonal agricultural workers. Lower skilled workers like labourers are an absolutely essential part of construction sites up and down the country and this is therefore very worrying.
We hope that the Government thinks very carefully when it decides which recommendations they will take on board from the MAC report and keeps key industries, like construction, in mind.
