Government cracks down on migrant workers

Jo Faragher

The Government has announced it will halve the amount of time EU migrants can claim benefits if they do not have realistic job prospects.

From November, migrant workers with no employment in the pipeline will only be able to claim benefits in the UK for three months, down from the current limit of six.

Prime minister David Cameron said there was a “magnetic pull” of UK workers that needed to be addressed, and that the UK needed to attract people into the country for the right reasons.

He also accused some recruitment agencies of recruiting directly from other countries “without British workers ever getting a chance to apply for the jobs”, saying the Government would ban overseas-only recruitment – legally requiring these agencies to advertise in English in the UK.

The Government has already tightened the regulations around migrants’ access to out-of-work benefits: in January, it announced that EU migrants would not be able to claim job seeker’s allowance until three months after arriving in the UK.

Further measures to tackle abuses will also be introduced, such as powers to revoke the driving licences of those not entitled to be in the country.

Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said that the new measures would not go far enough.

She said: “The government should get a grip and finally implement Labour’s proposals to stop the undercutting of wages and jobs for local workers by the exploitation of low-skilled migrant labour, including banning recruitment agencies that only hire foreign workers and pressing for stronger controls in Europe.”

Responding to claims around agencies seeking to hire migrant workers directly above local candidates, Kevin Green, chief executive of the REC said: “British agencies should be listing all vacancies in Britain and in English. Advertising exclusively overseas is already prohibited under the existing Equality Act and we have not seen any evidence that it is happening. Anyone with evidence should contact us so we can investigate.”

Green added that the REC would work with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills to uncover and address any evidence of such behaviour.