British jobseekers should fill vacancies previously staffed by overseas workers, the work and pensions secretary is to say.
Mel Stride is set to outline plans to get British people to fill positions which foreign workers used to hold, before visa changes created a “recruitment challenge” for certain sectors.
The government is billing the speech as a bid to get firms to ‘put Brits first’, with Stride expected to say: “This is also a huge opportunity for the thousands of jobseekers within our domestic workforce to move into roles that have previously been filled by overseas workers.”
It comes after HSBC and Deloitte became the latest firms to reportedly withdraw job offers to foreign graduates of UK universities, as the impact of new visa rules continues to disrupt recruitment.
A new cross-government ministerial taskforce has been launched to develop recruitment initiatives in industries facing staff shortages, to boost the incomes of out of work claimants and cut the benefit bill, in a whole government approach to reducing legal migration levels.
Visa changes now mean the UK can rely less on cheap overseas labour, with recent updates including social care workers no longer being allowed to bring dependents; skilled worker salary thresholds increasing; and a review of the graduate visa.
Instead, the government wants to address job barriers among those out of work, to build an “economic model based on British talent” via emulating ‘HGV driver shortage’ initiatives, skill bootcamps, Jobcentre training and cutting red tape holding back domestic recruitment.
Extra help will be targeted in key sectors including hospitality, care, construction and manufacturing.
Stride is expected to say: “The new visa rules brought in by the home secretary will mean around 300,000 people who arrived last year would not be able to under the new rules.
“I know this presents a recruitment challenge for some employers in certain sectors, particularly those that have relied more on migration in the past.
“But this is also a huge opportunity for the thousands of jobseekers within our domestic workforce to move into roles that have previously been filled by overseas workers.”
He will add: “My message is also to the British people. For too long we have relied on labour from abroad when there is great talent right here in the UK: I’m determined to put that right.”
Labour’s acting shadow work and pensions secretary Alison McGovern said: “After 14 years of Tory failure, Mel Stride cannot escape the Tory record on work.
“The Conservatives have run down our skills and training system. And we now have record levels of net migration.
“They should be putting in place proper plans to tackle shortages and adopting Labour’s plans to connect the immigration system to skills, not setting up another talking shop.”