Tuesday 28 January 2020

LCCI respond to the ‘Points-based system and salary thresholds’ report from the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) today.

Sean McKee, Director of Policy and Public Affairs, London Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said:

“Businesses will be encouraged to see a recommendation to lower the previously proposed £30,000 salary threshold. Albeit some will still question whether the newly proposed figure of £25,600 is low enough.

A point of some concern is that, while this report is to provide an evidence base for a new UK migration system, the MAC Chair again flagged that his committee still faced ‘challenges’ relating to access to data. Good public policy-making requires the best available evidence base to underpin it.

As a global city, London has a greater reliance on international workers than the rest of the UK, and LCCI and others have advocated that a new UK migration system should have a degree of regionalisation. But the MAC do not propose regional variations in the salary threshold and do not recommend, at this stage, reviewing the Shortage Occupation Lists tier.

The Mayor of London previously said that if satisfactory migration proposals for London were not put forward, he would look at alternative options. We encourage him to bring London’s business and civic leaders together to discuss next steps.”

ENDS

Media contact:
Steven Reilly-Hii
T: +44 (0)207 203 1897
M: +44 (0)7827 241528
E: sreilly-hii@londonchamber.co.uk

NOTES TO EDITOR:

1. London Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) is the capital’s most representative business organisation, with members ranging in size from sole traders and SMEs to multi-national companies.