Industry bodies have welcomed the confirmation by the Home Office that more trades including carpenters, joiners, roof workers and other construction workers have been added to the Shortage Occupation List giving workers from overseas easier access to UK work visas.
The news comes after a number of organisations pleaded for relaxation of restrictions on imported labour to tackle the UK’s chronic skills shortage, cited as a significant contributor to the shortfall in reaching home building targets https://www.the-glazine.com/?p=9629 .
Some trades had been granted relaxed rules from the outset when the government’s Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) was set up in March but immediately came under fire from trade bodies for not going far enough.
The list of trades covered by the relaxed rules now includes bricklayers and masons, roofers, roof tilers and slaters, carpenters and joiners, plasterers and other construction and building trades not elsewhere classified.
