Companies are using a loophole to
bring people with IT skills in from outside the UK despite the
high availability of UK workers, it was claimed today.
Companies are using intra-company transfers to
bring in staff to the UK from outside the EU without
advertising the vacancies in the UK, claim recruitment
companies.
The Association of Professional Staffing Companies (Apsco),
which represents IT recruitment companies, has written to Phil
Woolas, minister of state for borders and immigration, urging him
to put a stop to the practice.
Ann Swain, CEO at Apsco, said there are enough workers available
in the UK to fill the vast majority of vacancies.
"The government's supposedly tougher new immigration system has
failed to significantly slow the influx of non-EU workers to the
UK," she said. "This is because any company which has an office
abroad can recruit overseas and simply ship workers across to the
UK bypassing most of the checks on immigration.
"Workers coming to the UK on intra-company transfers are
supposed to be paid the going market rate for the job, but this is
very difficult for the Home Office to enforce, particularly with
the volume of workers coming in. Companies are even allowed to pay
these workers offshore in foreign currencies, so intra-company
transfers are potentially very easy to exploit in order to bring
cheap foreign labour into the UK."
According to data obtained by Apsco from the Home Office under
the Freedom of Information Act, 35,430 non-EU IT workers came to
work in the UK last year. This compared to 12,726 in during the
dotcom boom in 2000.