law
‘Act now’ for right to employ EU workers post-Brexit, urge expert lawyers
Businesses that wish to employ workers from the EU after Brexit need to prioritise their planning now, according to experts at leading regional firm Boyes Turner
If the UK leaves the EU as currently planned, then all businesses employing EU citizens will have to apply for a sponsorship licence, currently needed only for those employing international workers, when the transitional period ends in January 2021.
Specialists at Boyes Turner say as many as 900,000 businesses could be affected by the changes, which are expected to place a huge strain on Home Office resources.
Currently, around 30,000 businesses have registered as sponsors to enable them to employ international workers, but this will increase significantly after Brexit when EU workers lose their protected status under current freedom of movement laws.
Sectors including food and drink manufacturing, leisure and hospitality, construction, retail, residential and social care and the Thames Valley’s rapidly growing tech sector are among those expected to be hardest hit by the changes.
Businesses will also have to budget for additional fees – £1,500 fee for the eight-week sponsorship application process, as well as an immigration skills charge of up to £5,000 per worker under the new rules.
Boyes Turner urges businesses to be proactive to protect their ability to recruit EU workers post-2021 in an increasingly shrinking talent pool. The firm advises a three-step approach to the issue:
1 Register as early as possible for a sponsor’s licence to beat any rush in the build up to the new system coming into effect;
2 Protect any sponsorship licence currently held by investing in compliance training to avoid losing a licence and employees having to leave the UK, and;
3 For existing EU workers in the UK, ensure they know what they need to do to register under the EU settlement scheme and assist them in registering if needs be.
Claire Taylor-Evans, senior associate solicitor in the employment team at Boyes Turner, said: “This will be a huge change for hundreds of thousands of businesses if the UK does leave the EU and it will create huge pressure on the system.
“There’s a very real risk that some firms will miss out on having their licence in place by the deadline, so there’s everything to lose from delaying applications and everything to gain from doing it now.
“For larger businesses with expert HR teams, applications will be challenging. For smaller businesses, there’s a real risk of them losing valuable time battling their way through official forms and having applications rejected if they don’t get specialist advice to ensure it’s right the first time.”
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – MAY/JUNE 2019 Tech
Breakfast Series
Come for breakfast and hear from engaging high-profile business leaders who will explore the issues that companies in the Technology and Innovation Sector face.
Thank you for the invitation to this morning’s talk, it was inspirational and entertaining. I’m looking forward to the next one!
For further information on future talks and details on how to sign up, please contact
Suzanne Allen,
Business Development Manager,
sallen@boyesturner.com
businessmag.co.uk
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