Businesses will have to prioritise the hiring of UK nationals under "non-negotiable" curbs on migrant labour, the Work and Pensions Secretary said yesterday.
Mel Stride warned firms that rely heavily on foreign workers to recruit from Britain to fill their jobs, saying that the Government is "utterly determined" to slash net migration.
Giving a speech yesterday, the cabinet minister vowed to "unleash Britain’s hidden army of talent", saying the UK has relied on foreign labour "for too long".
Speaking at a Jobcentre in London, Stride said out-of-work Britons will be offered places on "skills bootcamps" as part of a Government bid to plug gaps in the labour market which were previously filled by overseas workers.
Businesses will have to prioritise the hiring of UK nationals under "non-negotiable" curbs on migrant labour, the Work and Pensions Secretary said yesterday
PA
Benefits claimants will be given training for roles in key sectors facing shortages, including hospitality, care, construction and manufacturing, Stride said today.
It comes after the Home Office announced a raft of restrictions aimed at cutting the number of people entering Britain and ahead of official net migration statistics set to be published on Thursday.
The measures include a ban on overseas care workers bringing over family dependants, a drastically increased salary threshold for skilled workers to £38,700, and reforms to make it harder for Britons earning less than the national average to bring over foreign spouses.
But Stride claimed the Government is building a new economic model “based on British talent”.
He acknowledged that the rules, which aim to reduce the number of people arriving in Britain by 300,000 a year, present a “recruitment challenge” for employers.
Speaking to the Mail, the Work and Pensions Secretary said: "That's a quantum step down.
"So my task now is to work with businesses and make sure that what we do is in those sectors where labour markets are tight, and they've relied on that flow of net migration in the past, we have the tools to make sure that we 'recruit Britain' and that people appreciate that the solution is often much closer than they think."
The plans announced yesterday include a new Government taskforce set up to develop recruitment initiatives in industries facing major shortages, chaired by Stride and including ministers from the Home Office, Treasury, Department for Education and Department for Business and Trade.
It will draw on the measures introduced to target the shortage of HGV drivers, which included skills “bootcamps” and Jobcentre training schemes, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) said.
Asked after his speech how the initiatives will work in practice, Stride said they are “short, focused” training sessions typically put together with input from businesses.
He explained: "It is just a simple fact that if you can get somebody who’s willing and incentivised to work and you give them those skills over a short period of time, you can make a real movement of the dial in terms of having people go into those areas of employment.
"My message to businesses is clear: our Jobcentre teams stand ready to help you find the right candidate, and we want to work with you to overcome recruitment challenges.
"And my message is also to the British people. For too long we have relied on labour from abroad when there is great talent right here in the UK – I am determined to put that right."
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He suggested major welfare reform is needed, arguing that personal independence payments (Pip), the main disability benefit, are “creaking under the weight of the profound changes we’ve seen in the nature of disability”.
But Labour dismissed the latest announcement as “another talking shop”, arguing that more drastic measures are needed after official figures showed net migration hit a record-breaking 745,000 in 2022.
Responding to Stride's speech, shadow work and pensions secretary Alison McGovern said: "After laying bare the Tories’ damning failure on work, skills and training, Mel Stride is going to be furious when he finds out who has been in power for the last 14 years.
“Talking shops and billboards do not even scratch the surface of what is needed to get Britain working. The Tories should be prioritising proper plans to tackle worker shortages and adopting Labour’s plan to connect the immigration system to skills.
“The Tories cannot be the change from their own failings. It is Labour who have the plan to get Britain working by cutting NHS waiting lists, reforming job centres, making work pay and supporting people into good jobs across every part of the country.”
