Work Permit Policy: Hotel and Catering Occupations: Review

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A decision made 23 December 2013:

Decision Reference: MD-HA-2013-0073
Decision Summary Title :	Review of work permit policy		Date of Decision Summary:	17 December 2013
Decision Summary Author:	Assistant Director, Immigration and Nationality		Decision Summary: Public or Exempt?	Public
Type of Report: Oral or Written?	Written		Person Giving Oral Report:	n/a
Written Report Title :	Work permit review		Date of Written Report:	17 December 2013
Written Report Author:	Assistant Director, Immigration and Nationality		Written Report : Public or Exempt? (State clauses from Code of Practice booklet)	Public
Subject: Review of work permit policy – Hotel and catering occupations.
Decision(s): The Minister decided that from 1 January 2014 the Jersey Customs and Immigration Service should adopt the same policy as the Home Office in respect of work permit applications for persons of non-EEA nationality applying to work as skilled chefs. This policy is set out in the attached report. In respect of other hotel and catering occupations the new eligibility criteria will be that the job is in a senior management role only, where it is at Bachelor or higher degree level or equivalent, NVQ level 6, and the job is paid at or above the appropriate rate set by the industry. In any case where an employer is seeking to employ a non-EEA national as either a skilled chef or in a hotel and catering occupation, as detailed above, they will need to provide the following: - Full job description and details of staff under their control, listing responsibilities - Evidence of qualifications and work references - Evidence of appropriate advertising or recruitment searches over a period of at least 4 weeks (resident labour market test) using specialist trade journals, recruitment agencies and websites. To include placing an advert at the Social Security Department. - Knowledge of listening and spoken English equivalent to level B1 or above of the Council of Europe’s Common European Framework for language learning unless exempt. - Accommodation to be provided or arranged by the employer. If an employee prefers to find their own it is acceptable. - A draft contract of employment.
Reason(s) for Decision: The outcome of a review of the current work permit policy.
Resource Implications: None
Action required: Jersey Customs and Immigration Service to implement the new policy with effect from 1 January 2014 and to notify the Hospitality Association, who have been kept informed, of the signing of the decision.
Signature:		Position: Minister for Home Affairs
Date Signed:		Date of Decision (If different from Date Signed):

Work Permit Policy: Hotel and Catering Occupations: Review

Customs and Immigration Service

Report

To: Minister for Home Affairs
	From: Andrew Hunt, Assistant Director



	Date: 17 December 2013

Work Permit Review - Hotel and Catering Occupations

Introduction

This report has been compiled by Casework Officer, Richard Coenen, and concerns the employment of skilled workers of non-European Economic Area nationality in hotel and catering occupations. It explains the need for a review, outlines the current situation, looks at changes made to the skill levels and pay thresholds for these jobs in the United Kingdom. Finally, it gives the Minister for Home Affairs options to consider with regard to the policy for this non-European Economic Area work permit route.

Need for a Review

Economic conditions have changed considerably in Jersey since approving “in principle” the issue of permits for these hotel and catering occupations. Also, the aim of the work permit policy, which operates under Immigration legislation, is to protect job opportunities for local residents, European Economic Area nationals and persons who are free of permit restrictions. As a consequence, the opportunity has been taken to look at the practice followed by the United Kingdom Government and how they currently manage the flow of migrants coming to work in the country.

Current situation

Since 2004 work permits have been issued, subject to the normal qualifying criteria being met, for various skilled chefs. This was in response to the recruitment difficulties which the hospitality industry had in recruiting chefs in 5 occupation areas. These are:

Executive Chef
Head Chef
Sous Chef
Pastry Chef
Chef de Partie

Chefs who specialise in ethnic cuisine are also considered, but the level of culinary experience, responsibility for preparing and cooking food must be at levels equivalent to the types of chef listed above.

Prior to 2004 long term work permits were issued for Head Chefs only under the category of skilled workers.

In 2008 the Jersey Hospitality Association (“JHA”) approached the Service about non-European Economic Area English speaking employees and provided a list of posts for which work permits would be required. After discussion with the then Assistant Minister for Home Affairs, Deputy Andrew Lewis, it was decided that we were unable to accede to the “JHA’s” request. In essence, this was because we were not convinced that sufficient efforts had been made to identify English speaking permit free employees (for example, persons with United Kingdom ancestry). However, as permits were already granted for certain posts on their list, and subject to the normal qualifying criteria being met, they would continue to be issued for:

Assistant Food & Beverage Manager
Banqueting Manager
Conference Manager
Duty Manager
Events Manager
Restaurant Manager

In addition, the Assistant Minister approved, in principle, the issue of permits for:

Chef Sommelier
Head Receptionist
Reservation Manager

The rationale behind the approval of these 3 additional posts is that they are management roles, but also provide the first and last impression guests have of the hotel. In light of this it was decided that these positions make a valuable and significant contribution to the economic success of an establishment.

Home Office

The Home Office Migration Policy Unit was contacted. They explained that the skill level required by migrants who wish to work in the United Kingdom has been raised, across the board, to the extent that only highly skilled occupations are now allowed. This is in line with the Government’s policy of introducing a numerical cap on the numbers of non-European Economic Area nationals permitted to enter the country to work. This has been in place since April 2011.

In particular, it is now rare for them to issue “Tier 2 (General) Sponsor Licences”, which was previously their work permit scheme, to employers for chefs and other hotel and catering occupations. It is also an attempt by the Home Office to eradicate immigration abuse as many applications, especially for ethnic restaurants, were found to be bogus as a result of verification checks on qualifications and work references.

The only skilled chefs now permitted, from outside of the United Kingdom and European Economic Area, are where:

● the pay is at least £29,570 per year after deductions for accommodation and meals etc; and

● the job requires 5 or more years relevant experience in a role of at least equivalent status to the one they are entering; and

● the job is not in either a fast food outlet or an establishment which provides a take-away service; and

● the job is in 1 of the following roles:

◘ executive chef - limited to 1 per establishment

◘ head chef - limited to 1 per establishment

◘ sous chef - limited to 1 per establishment

◘ specialist chef - limited to 1 per establishment

Skilled chefs at this level are currently considered by the United Kingdom’s Migration Advisory Committee to be in shortage and appear on their published Shortage Occupation List. In practice, this means that they are exempt from the resident labour market test (advertising requirement is waived), but have to meet all the other set criteria.

Applications for other hotel and catering occupations are now only considered where the job is at Bachelor or higher degree level. All the other set criteria must be met, including the resident labour market test.

For non-European Economic Area nationals, who were in authorised employment in the United Kingdom prior to the change in policy, applications to extend their employment are assessed under the previous criteria. This transitional arrangement is considered to be reasonable by Ministers.

Jersey Hospitality Association

The Jersey Hospitality Association (“JHA”) was contacted for an industry view on possible changes to the current qualifying criteria for skilled Hotel and Catering Occupations. The “JHA” confirmed that there are currently no recruitment difficulties. They have also consulted with the British Hospitality Association who indicated that there has been a degree of acceptance that changes were necessary in the United Kingdom, but it has caused problems, especially for ethnic restaurants. In view of this their “Skills Council” and “Chefs Academy” are to include ethnic cooking as part of the training syllabus.

Whilst the “JHA” confirmed that they are managing to fill jobs they would prefer there is no change to the current policy. This would allow establishments, who wish to introduce specialist chefs to do so, and promote the Island as a culinary destination.

Options

1. No change to the policy. Applications for chefs and other hotel and catering occupations continue to be assessed against the existing criteria.

This route enables an employer to bring in a worker from outside the European Economic Area, once they have shown that there is no suitably qualified worker from within the resident labour market, to fill a specific vacancy. There is no limit on the number of work permits issued in these occupations.

2. Increase the skill levels and pay thresholds for chefs and other hotel and catering occupations in line with the Home Office. Apply the same transitional arrangement as the United Kingdom. This will allow permit holders, who are in Jersey prior to the change in policy, to have their applications to extend their employment assessed under the previous criteria.

There is no evidence to indicate that the hospitality industry is experiencing difficulty recruiting for these positions. Furthermore, the expectation should now be that a settled worker can be found within the United Kingdom or European Economic Area workforce for these occupations. In addition, this would reduce indefinite leave to remain applications as work permit holders and their dependants often gain settlement, hence adding to the local population.

In the event that the Minister wishes pursue Option 2, he should direct the Customs and Immigration Service to develop a policy, to include criteria against which applications will be assessed and an implementation date.