Under current rules, restaurants can only employ chefs from outside the EU if they are to earn at least £29,570 a year and have five or more years’ experience in a similar role.
Under the proposed Australian-inspired points-based system, specialist Asian chefs will be able to enter the UK on a salary of £25,600.
Under the new rules - which if approved are due to kick in January 2021 - a person needs at least 70 points to apply to work in the UK and must speak English, have a job offer from an approved visa sponsor and be of an appropriate skill level for the role.
A starting salary of above £25,600 provides 20 points, a job offer from an approved sponsor provides 20 points, having an appropriate skill level provides 20 points and speaking English provides a further 10 points bringing the total up to the required 70 points.
Quality Indian restaurants have been suffering a major skills shortage since immigration rules were tightened in 2005 and a number have cautiously welcomed the lowering of the salary threshold for skilled chefs.
However, they are quick to point out that the points-based immigration system is likely to cause an unprecedented recruitment challenge for entry-level waiting and cooking roles, as well as kitchen porters, because it effectively shuts the door on the ‘low-skilled’ workers from the EU.
“£30,000 was unaffordable for most roles. Around £25,000 is more manageable,” says Ralph Sousa, owner of Saffron Summer in Chessington, Surrey. “But there’s no point having a full kitchen if you haven’t got people to serve the food."
"The Government said we should be using technology to fill the gap, but that won’t work for hospitality. I’m about to open a second restaurant in Reigate and want to do more but the lack of front of house staff and, as importantly, kitchen porters is going to make that difficult.”
London-based contemporary Indian restaurant group Kricket has also welcomed the dropping of the salary threshold for skilled chefs from abroad.
“The majority of Indian restaurants have a kitchen brigade that’s overwhelmingly Indian. But we have a mixed brigade and that works for us,” says co-founder Rik Campbell. “But we do welcome this aspect of the points-based system because it will make it easier for us to employ more specialist staff, including tandoor chefs."
“They are currently in short supply and expensive. Specialist chefs aren’t necessarily paid £30,000, so it helps to have a bit of flexibility. But we’re not happy about what this all means for less experienced people from the EU. We employ a lot of young people from Europe and we love the fact we’re a multi-cultural business. The pool of staff options is already small and now it is going to become even smaller.”
Sasha Lal, a consultant and trainee solicitor at immigration solicitors Gherson, highlights that job titles and where people are employed will still matter if and when the changes come into force.
“It’s still complicated and these changes will only be beneficial to businesses looking to employ high quality staff. Employers will still need to refer to the Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) codes, which lists salaries for specific roles. If these thresholds are higher than £25,600 they will still have to meet them.”
The SOC codes are likely be reviewed prior to the rules coming into force, and a white paper is coming out in March that may provide more clarity.
As things currently stand, restaurants are limited to one executive chef and one head chef per establishment; one sous chef for every four kitchen staff per establishment; and one specialist chef per specialist discipline.
While a clause that prohibited migrant chefs working in places that do takeaway - dubbed the ‘vindaloo visa’ - has now been scrapped, migrant chefs cannot work in fast food or ‘standard fare’ outlets.
