Home grown talent could plug skills gap in industry, say recruiters

The Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC), a professional body for the recruitment industry, says that apprenticeships will help attract and retain UK staff, who will form a greater part of the industry once the immigration cap comes into force.

Suzanne Letting, hospitality chair at the REC, said: “Apprenticeships may take time to give businesses a return on their investment, but we need too take strategic decisions now in order to build a talent pipeline for the future.”

“These schemes present us with an opportunity to select, deliver and monitor our talent, while focusing on retaining that talent once all the necessary skills are acquired.”

Specialist​

One of the main gaps caused by the immigration cap is set be in the specialist catering sectors, with Chinese and curry restaurants likely to be hardest hit.

Letting said: “Specialised recruiters have a big role to play and are committed to building effective partnerships with employers and Sector Skills Councils. Our mission is to deliver more opportunities in the sector and to build the hospitality sector of the future.”

She also hinted that the recruitment industry was frustrated by the cap, adding: “We have consistently called for the migration cap to be workable and flexible. Immigration policy should take the real needs of the UK economy into account – especially in sectors with pronounced skills shortages.”

Meanwhile the hospitality industry continued to highlight the problems the cap could cause for the sector.

The British Hospitality Association, which met with the Home Office last month to discuss the needs of the industry​, said today: “We’re very concerned about the problem caused by the immigration rule that highly skilled workers should be at degree level – this is clearly not relevant to the hospitality industry.

“It will severely damage restaurants specialising in Indian, Chinese and other cuisines. Many of these restaurants rely on highly skilled workers from overseas because the skills cannot be found in British-born workers. We are continuing discussions with the Home Office on this.”