Insights

Changes to the Shortage Occupation List

by Alpa Gandhi Morjaria | 19 Oct 2019

From 6 October 2019 there have been some changes introduced to the Shortage Occupation List (SOL). This was released in the Statement of Changes issued on 9 September 2019 following the MAC’s review of the SOL.

Industries to highlight

The SOL has been amended to remove and add new inclusions to the list. Where we see exclusions of the pharmacists, pharmacologists, dental practitioners, management consultants, actuaries, managers and directors in the mining and energy sector have been made to name a few. New additions have been made in the veterinary, hospitality, biological science and biochemistry, web design and architecture industry. It is worth noting UK restaurant owners will now be able to hire skilled chefs even if their business is providing a takeaway service. Some occupations have also been developed to include all job titles within the Standard Occupation Code (SOC) and to remove qualifying company criteria from the listed digital technology occupations.

What does this mean for the employer?

In the past there were several strict requirements an employer must have complied with in order to sponsor a skilled non-EEA worker. However, the new changes see a number of exemptions to these requirements making it easier for an employer to hire shortage occupation workers.

For ease we have highlighted some of the benefits below:

Resident Labour Market Test is exempt.
Visa fees are lower under this category.
The minimum income threshold for settlement will be exempt.
Priority allocation will be given should the cap limit of Restrictive Certificate of Sponsorship (RCoS) is reached.

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