The Government is set to subsidise British companies up to £25,000 in visa costs for foreign workers hired from abroad — drawing immediate fire from critics who say the scheme is a disaster for young British graduates already facing the worst jobs market in a generation, as the number of under-25s not in education, employment or training passes one million.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Business Secretary Peter Kyle will announce the package today, under which “high-growth” firms in the tech and digital, life sciences and clean energy sectors will be able to claim £5,000 per foreign employee, up to a maximum of £25,000 per company per year. There will be no direct limit on the number of staff a firm can hire under the scheme beyond the financial cap. The Government will also fast-track UK Expansion Worker sponsor licence applications to around ten days, down from several weeks, to help high-potential international businesses establish UK operations more quickly.
Announcing the policy, Reeves said: “We are backing the UK’s most ambitious firms to start, scale and stay here — with the finance, talent and support they need to succeed.”
The timing has proved immediately controversial. Last month’s Milburn review found that Britain is facing a major worklessness crisis, with the number of 16 to 24-year-olds classified as Neets — not in education, employment or training — rising to more than one million.
Migration Watch UK told The Telegraph the scheme amounted to making “the backdoor into Britain even cheaper and more accessible.” It added: “This will be a disaster for young British workers who already face the worst jobs market in a generation. It comes in addition to the so-called ‘Skilled Worker Visa’ which is already abused to import supermarket staff and takeaway drivers, amongst others — exactly the sort of entry-level work young Britons used to do.”
Callum Price of the Institute of Economic Affairs said the Government would be “far better off making it easier for businesses to hire people, and making the UK an attractive place for high-skilled workers across the board, than spending taxpayer money on trying to pick limited winners.”
Peter Kyle will also launch a new “concierge service” for promising businesses, modelled on similar initiatives in France, Singapore and the United States, designed to ensure government acts quickly to support growth companies or, as the announcement put it, “get out of the way.” Penny Verbe has been appointed as the Government’s Scale Up Adviser.
A Government spokesman said the scheme was designed to help high-growth firms “access critical skills where there are clear gaps in the UK workforce” and insisted it would strengthen rather than undermine opportunities for domestic workers. The spokesman pointed to £2.5 billion in youth employment support, more apprenticeships and targeted job-entry programmes as evidence of the Government’s commitment to British workers.
