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Migrant Workers There have been migrants to Britain for more than two thousand years. They helped to create the foundations of the country we know today. Some have stayed for only a short while, going back home or moving on. Others have made homes here. Over recent years there has been a steady increase in the number of migrant workers coming to the East of England, particularly since the enlargement of the European Union (EU) in 2004.
Who is a migrant worker? (link to myth busting leaflet) A Migrant worker is a person who migrates from one country to another for the primary purpose of work, whether permanently or temporarily.
Migrant workers thus can include the following categories
- Nationals of the European Economic Area (EEA) who have a right to travel, live and work in the UK
- Nationals of all other countries who require a work permit, which is obtained by an employer who cannot find a suitable national to fill a post.
- Nationals of Switzerland and British Overseas Territories and people employed in a limited number of activities, who require clearance to enter the UK but do not require a work permit
- Commonwealth Working Holiday makers: individuals between the ages of 17-30 who can work in the UK for up to 2 years.
NB: Asylum seekers and refugees are not considered migrant workers as they enter the UK other than for work reasons.
New European States One of the new trends in migration, especially in the East of England, has been arrival of workers from the European Union's new eastern states.
On 1 May 2004, ten countries - Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia - joined the European Union (EU). From that date, nationals of Malta and Cyprus have had full free movement rights and rights to work, throughout the EU. Prior to enlargement, existing EU member states had the right to regulate access to their labour markets by nationals of the other eight countries - the 'Accession 8' or 'A8'. The UK Government put in place transitional measures to regulate A8 nationals' access to the labour market (via the Worker Registration Scheme) and to restrict access to benefits.
On 1 January 2007 Bulgaria and Romania, often described as the A2 countries, joined the European Union. The Government announced on 24 October 2006 that nationals of Bulgaria and Romania would be afforded gradual access to the United Kingdom's labour market. There would continue to be access for skilled workers who met the skills requirements of the United Kingdom's work permit arrangements and the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme. Access for lower skilled workers, however, would be quota limited and restricted to those accessing existing schemes (the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme and the Sectors Based Scheme) for the agricultural and food processing sectors. At the same time these low-skilled schemes would move to being restricted to Bulgarian and Romanian nationals only.
Help for Migrants: Migrant Gateway® The Migrant Gateway® website provides access to information, advice and guidance for EU and non-EU nationals who want to, or already do, work and live in the United Kingdom (UK). The information is provided both directly and through links to other services and resources.
The Worker Registration Scheme (WRS) The Government has established a Worker Registration Scheme (WRS) to monitor the participation of workers from the A8 countries in the UK labour market.
Local Government Analysis and Research (LGAR) has negotiated and secured access to local authority level Worker Registration Scheme data from the Home Office.
NB. You can only access this information if you have a “.gov.uk” email address.
Click on the link below to view the website:
http://www.lgar.local.gov.uk/lgv/core/page.do?pageId=27879
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