The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) has published its recommendations for the Government on the Shortage Occupation List. The MAC has recommended removing chefs from the shortage occupation list.

Although it acknowledged that the hospitality industry was reliant on migrant labour, and that the salary threshold employers will face under the Skilled Workers Route is significantly higher than median wages in the industry, it has nonetheless recommended chefs’ removal from the list, giving a number of reasons:

• It believes employers have failed to train UK workers adequately
• It maintains there is evidence of relatively poor terms and conditions in the industry, which is supressing supply of labour from the domestic labour market
• It states that demand will be reduced in the short term as the sector suffers the effects of covid-19.
• It argues that removing chefs from the list could force an improvement in the pay of existing chefs and encourage more people from the UK to move into the profession (albeit at the cost of more expensive meals for consumers).

The removal of chefs from the shortage occupation list will mean that any business seeking to employ workers from outside the UK post-Brexit will have to have that employee satisfy the points-based system. As a reminder, this would mean that workers would have to speak English, have a job offer from an approved sponsor, and have a salary of at least £25,600.

The MAC has said that it will review its decision to recommend the removal of chefs from the shortage occupation list in the next review of the list in 2021.

The Government is now due to respond to the MAC’s recommendations, for which a timetable has not been set. In the past, the Government has accepted the MAC’s recommendations as laid out.