The Migration Advisory Committeewill
reveal the results of an investigation intoalleged abuses of the Intra Company Transferrules before the end of the summer.
The
Intra Company Transfer (ICT) scheme was introduced to allow
businesses to bring in people with important skills that the
company could not source within the UK. But these rules are being
used to bring in cheap labour, claim IT contractors
Mark Lewis,
partner
and head of outsourcing at law firm Berwin Leighton Paisner,
said the government had been forced to look into the matter because
of the number of overseas workers in the UK on ICTs.
"I think this will be the hottest issue we have seen facing
offshoring relations between India and the UK," said Lewis. "The
implications [of the government's stance on ICT] for UK businesses
and Indian suppliers are massive."
According to
data obtained by the Association of Professional Staffing
Companies 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 during the dotcom boom in 2000.
Most non-EU workers that came to the UK in the past year are low
to mid-level workers. This contravenes the rationale behind the ICT
system.
The Professional Contractors Group (PCG) said that, since
launching a campaign in May, it has been receiving up to
20 e-mails a day from members alerting it to abuses of the ICT
regulation.