With the Bank of England warning of a long and deep recession to come, what does this mean for sponsored workers?
General considerations for employers when making redundancies
From an employer’s perspective, where they are carrying out any redundancy exercise (including those involving sponsored workers), they need to make sure that they have complied with all of the normal employment law requirements before terminating an employee’s employment. This includes ensuring that a fair procedure has been followed to avoid potential unfair dismissal claims where an individual has more than two years’ service.
Redundancies of Skilled Worker visa holders
The position is considerably more complicated for sponsored workers, not least because the stakes are much higher.
Where a migrant worker is in the UK on a “work permit” (in other words they are in the UK as a sponsored Skilled Worker), their ability to remain in the UK depends on their continued employment in the specific role for which they are sponsored by their employer.
If a Skilled Worker visa holder loses their job for any reason, their employer has an obligation to inform UK Visas and Immigration within ten working days of the last day of their employment. The individual’s leave to remain will then be curtailed (cut short) to 60 days. Individuals must then either find a new employer willing to sponsor them within this time period or leave the country. This means that when a sponsored migrant is made redundant, they not only lose their income, but also potentially their right to remain in the UK.
As such, any employers looking to make sponsored workers redundant will need to manage the process very carefully to avoid potential claims from aggrieved individuals who have lost their future life in the UK. This can include unfair dismissal claims (where they have length of service) or claims for discrimination (which apply regardless of length of service).
What about offers of alternative employment as a way of avoiding redundancies?
Employers will need to carefully consider the impact of an employee’s visa status on their ability to accept offers of suitable alternative employment.
Generally, individuals will only be able to take up an alternative role under the terms of their current visa where it is the same type of role as that for which they are currently sponsored. If the new role would take them outside of their current Standard Occupational Code, a new visa will be required which meets all of the relevant eligibility criteria. This will also attract further visa fees (although refunds may be available). This visa will need to be secured before the employee is able to start in the new role.
Where an individual is made redundant and has their visa curtailed and does not leave the UK or find a new sponsor within the 60 day period, they will become an overstayer. This will result in adverse implications for future visa applications to come to the UK; they could even face deportation.
Next steps
Whilst we hope that rising concerns over the current economic situation do not result in large scale redundancies, it would be prudent for individuals and businesses to take legal advice on these issues at an early stage.
Where sponsored workers are impacted, businesses should take specific advice on navigating these issues and mitigating the risks of claims; individuals may want to take advice to explore alternative visa options that may be available, for example, those based on family life or personal relationships in the UK.
Our experienced immigration and employment law specialists are here to do the hard work for you. If you have any queries about this, please contact a member of our team of expert business immigration solicitors
