FOCUS: Battling for workers in a changing western world

Monday 25 March 2024

Brexit has brought significant challenges to the private and public sector, not least in recruitment and retention for key industries and services.

The States had to work double-time to implement new legislation for an orderly transition, while business had to face up to a changed labour pool and operating terms.

Now, over four years after the official exit date, we look back at measures brought in to address arising problems.

The Guernsey Border Agency and its immigration department have faced a significantly larger and increasingly complex workload while having to battle with staff shortages of its own.

At a political level, a key change came in October 2022 when the States refreshed its strategic population target for the next three decades. The island was now planning for an assumed average increase of inward net migration of 300+ per year.

Prior to this, the average net migration number into the island was only around 100 a year for 12-years.

The hope is to sustain the workforce at 2020 levels by 2051 while increasing the population by approximately 4,000 in the process to ensure the island remains competitive.

Pictured: Deputy Rob Prow, President of the Committee for Home Affairs.

That debate and resolution, labelled by many politicians as one of the most important matters considered in this political term, appears to be bearing fruit without much government input, as the measure itself doesn’t increase the population which is subject to myriad factors outside of government control.

The latest figures show population growth driven by net migration at 713 in the year up to quarter one 2023, with over 30% coming from outside Europe – one of the highest rates over the past decade.

The migration dial appears to have shifted since Brexit and the covid pandemic, but leaves the island in a predicament where immigration is on the up and unemployment is markedly low, but hundreds of vacancies remain. The third sector and other organisations are also struggling to find necessary volunteers.

Prior to 2022’s key population debate, the Committee for Home Affairs was already making moves to ease pressure on the supply of labour.

By the summer of ’22, employers were given the option to split immigration work permits into two parts to speed up and smooth out the intake of prospective candidates.

The introduction of a pre-approval stage allows firms to identify suitable candidates and start the administration process early, before notifying when the full permit is needed, which can then be issued within days. 

Home Affairs also widened the pool of candidates for health and social care roles by opening up specific work permits to those not yet qualified and semi-qualified individuals applying for support worker roles.

Pictured: Most arrivals to Guernsey come through the UK.

Semi-qualified staff can now apply for a three-year permit, and non-qualified for one-year permits. The one-year permits can be extended if employees obtain vocational qualifications during their employment.

This was in response to national staff shortages across the health sector.

When it came to the debate on the population review just a few months later, Home  Affairs defeated calls to protect the economy through productivity and participation improvements alone.

Other proposals to support its headline policy included a plan for more jobs to attract short-term employment permits for workers from around the world, not just the common travel area or the EU. And scrapping five-year employment permits in favour of issuing more long-term (eight-year) permits which allow people to remain in the island indefinitely.

It’s now easier for temporary workers to stay employed on the island for up to three years, and if they’ve had a break from the island having previously worked with one of these permits, it’s easier for them to re-obtain these too.

Amendments also won support during debate withEnvironment & Infrastructure directed to report to the States on the investment necessary in the island’s infrastructure to support population growth.

Pictured: The Channel Islands come under the UK's common travel area.

Meanwhile, Policy & Resources was directed to coordinate an investigation into increasing the proportion of residents in the workforce and boosting their economic output.

And P & R and Health & Social Care were directed to investigate whether private health insurance should be made compulsory for temporary residents to limit the public spend on  secondary healthcare.

Home Affairs also won backing to merge population management and immigration teams at policy and operational levels where appropriate to improve efficiency. Law enforcement bosses have noted in recent years the strain being felt by all due to high numbers of applications and new international obligations and scrutiny in the new geopolitical environment.

It was also agreed that permanent residency rules would be reviewed to identify new routes to settlement, including one that gives those born in the island a lifetime privilege to access the local housing market and employment.

The ambition to allow more seasonal workers into Open Market accommodation was also put into black and white, while Herm is likely to be included in the population management law going forward.

Home Affairs batted down calls from some deputies to add more jobs to permit lists, insisting that those required jobs are modelled on UK trends and can always be changed to meet local industry demand.

The States also passed the baton to the next cohort to review the progress, suitability and effectiveness of such measures by 2027.

In December 2023, Home Affairs relaxed a rule requiring staff coming to the island on short-term employment permits to have two years of relevant work experience in the role they are arriving for. Instead, these staff are asked to prove they’d been in continuous employment for the previous two years. 

But there remains a requirement that recruitment to some roles, such as those in healthcare, also need personnel holding specific qualifications.

Pictured: The Committee for Home Affairs, (clockwise from top right) Deputies Simon Vermeulen, Andy Taylor, Sue Aldwell, Liam McKenna, and Rob Prow.

The effectiveness of all of this is set to be reviewed by the end of the second quarter this year.

These changes have been largely welcomed, but Home Affairs has butted heads with one prominent lobby group over the past few years who argued the law is harming industries such as hospitality, cleaning and transport.

The Confederation of Guernsey Industry raised serious concerns over the population management system since Brexit and the approach of the States to the issues. It says these problems cover short term and seasonal licenses, open market legislation, the time taken to process applications, and the role of the Population Employment Advisory Panel.

"We understand there is no easy solution to easing immigration controls and these are due to the constraints of Brexit, the Common Travel Area and the limitations of the existing law. The Population Management team is certainly working extremely hard to engage with CGi members and other companies,” Chairman Dave Newman said in January.

"Our concerns, however, remain, so we are to maintain a regular dialogue with Home Affairs and Population Management and work to support member firms as best we can."

Home Affairs was asked for its assessment of policy changes of recruitment and retention so far, feedback from industry to date, and what more can be done before 2025.

Deputy Rob Prow, President of the Committee for Home Affairs, said: “The Committee has always maintained that we will do everything we reasonably can to support businesses attract and retain good staff. There have been many external factors outside of the island’s control which has made the recruitment landscape difficult, including Brexit of course, but we have introduced a significant number of policy changes aimed at helping industry.

“The most recent example of this was in December... our Committee has regularly listened to industry and responded with policy changes and we will continue to do so where justified.”