By Mason Alexander
20/04/2017
Hello everyone, this blog looks at the recent updates by the Home Office regarding the SOC Codes and what the implications/benefits are of such changes.
For those who are not as familiar with the SOC Codes they stand for Standard Occupation Classification Codes and outline the minimum salary for each occupation that an employer must pay a non-EU national. There are two categories for Entrant and Experience workers and the Experienced worker salary is the more common as companies often require highly skilled workers with many years professional experience. Essential the codes are in place to stop an unscrupulous employer paying a pittance for foreign workers for ethical reasons.
The main areas we will focus on here are the IT orientated codes:
2134 IT project and programme managers
2135 IT business analysts, architects and systems designers
2136 Programmers and software development professionals
2137 Web design and development professionals
2139 Information technology and telecommunications professionals not elsewhere classified
Salary wise these have by enlarge stayed fairly similar except a fairly big drop in salary for 2134 and IT PM's and Programme Managers. This is interesting for companies hiring in this space.
Another big update of interest is in the shortage occupation list. These are occupations where by there is no need to conduct a Resident Labour Market Test as skills are so sparse within the UK.
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/immigration-rules/immigration-rules-appendix-k-shortage-occupation-list
Immigration Rules Appendix K: shortage occupation list ...
www.gov.uk
1. Where these Rules refer to jobs which appear on the Shortage Occupation List, this means only those specific jobs within each Standard Occupational Classification ...
Areas of interest are as follows and very significant:
2133 IT specialist managers Only the following job in this occupation code:
IT product manager employed by a qualifying company, where the job requires a person with a minimum of five years’ relevant experience and demonstrable experience of having led a team.
2135 IT business analysts, architects and systems designers Only the following jobs in this occupation code:
systems engineer in visual effects and 2D/3D computer animation for the film, television or video games sectors
data scientist employed by a qualifying company, where the job requires a person with a minimum of five years’ relevant experience and demonstrable experience of having led a team.
2136 Programmers and software development professionals Only the following jobs in this occupation code:
Senior developer employed by a qualifying company, where the job requires a person with a minimum of five years’ relevant experience and demonstrable experience of having led a team.
The following jobs in visual effects and 2D/3D computer animation for the film, television or video games sectors:
software developer
shader writer
games designer
The following jobs in the electronics system industry:
driver developer
embedded communications engineer
2139 Information technology and communications professionals not elsewhere classified Only the following job in this occupation code:
Cyber security specialist employed by a qualifying company, where the job requires a person with a minimum of five years’ relevant experience and demonstrable experience of having led a team.
This clearly portrays opportunities for professionals within:
Product Managers
Data Scientists
Senior Developers
Cyber Security Specialist
For the specifics on the criteria and what is meant by 'qualifying company' and other ambiguous terms, do refer to the link above.
With the increase in Big Data and Analytics as well as booming technology and start ups this definitely bodes well for Non-EU workers in the UK. Thank you for reading and stay tunes for more blogs from Mason Alexander.
Thanks
Mason Alexander