Skills concern

According to the Federation of Master Builders (FMB), The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) report, which sets out a series of recommendations for the new immigration policy post-Brexit, would cripple the construction industry.

Commenting on the MAC report, Brian Berry, Chief Executive of the FMB, said the report made worrying reading for the tens of thousands of small construction firms across the UK who are already deeply concerned about the skills shortage.

“Its recommendations ignore the pleas of construction employers who have called on the Government to introduce a visa system based on key occupations rather than arbitrary skill levels. Instead, the proposal is to apply the Tier 2 immigration system to EU workers, which would be disastrous for small and micro construction firms. Even if tweaked and improved slightly, the Tier 2 system would not make provision for ample numbers of low skilled workers to enter the UK and these are people the construction industry relies upon. For the Government to make good on its construction and house building targets, it will need sufficient numbers of labourers as well as civil engineers and quantity surveyors,” he said.

“EU workers are vitally important to the UK construction sector… it is crucial that the post-Brexit immigration system allows us to continue to hire workers of varying skill levels, regardless of where they are from.”