Nesta & Universities UK recently launched reports on data analytics skills in the UK, and a joint policy briefing setting out changes in UK education and skills policy to improve the supply of analytical talent. We showed the benefits of embedding data analytics in businesses, and the ways that companies are doing this through highly skilled workers.
We found that data is becoming more and more important for businesses operating in the midst of the big data revolution. But realising the opportunities of this data glut will require talent with new skills. Businesses say they need workers with a mix of analysis, coding, domain knowledge and communication and soft skills, but those people seem hard to find – so much so that some even refer to them as ‘unicorns’.
A number of organisations are leading interventions in schools, universities and the labour market (through CPD and other training schemes) to develop skills the UK needs to survive in the big data era. But there will be a natural lag whilst this data talent filters into the workplace - to plug these gaps in the meantime, some have argued that skilled migrant workers will be needed.
There are a number of migration policy routes that employers can use to hire skilled data talent, this blog will souley focus on the Tier 2 – Skilled workers route.
A data scientist in financial services
For this role, a prospective migrant would look to the Tier 2 (General) route.
It is designed for skilled migrants who have a job offer to come to the UK to work in a role that can’t be filled by a local worker. There is a cap to the number of migrants that can come to the UK on the Tier 2 (General) route, which is fixed at 20,700 per year. And not just any skilled worker can come to the UK, the occupation that they take up must either be on the Shortage Occupations List (SOL), which outlines particular occupations where the UK is suffering from skills gaps, or employers are required to conduct a Resident Labour Market test (which is explained below).
The list includes ‘Actuaries, Economists and Statisticians’ (the occupational category that data scientists are included in), but specifies that only bio-informaticians and informaticians can work under Tier 2 (General) via the Shortage Occupations List. This means that a financial services data scientist is very unlikely to get a visa under this route, though the (more demanding) Resident Labour Market Test route might well be a possibility.
Importantly, this gap in the framework may impact a company’s ability to quickly hire the talent it needs to grow.
Things could be soon getting worse for Tier 2 applicants. Over the last couple of months, we have repeatedly seen the share of the 20,700 cap exceeded, with over 1000 skilled applicants turned away. According to the CBI this is a severe blockage in the UK’s efforts to boost productivity.
At the same time, the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) have been tasked with providing advice on reducing work migration from outside the EU, while making sure Britain is open to the ‘best and brightest’ talent. This may not bode well for non European data talent and might suggest that we will see a further tightening of the system.
A postdoc looking to take up an academic position in a university statistics department
In our recent report, Skills of the Datavores, we focused on data skills and industry. Looking at the other side of the coin, Universities UK addressed academia and skills needs - they identified that a significant barrier to providing data training across all subject areas at university was a lack of lecturers with the necessary skills.
If the UK doesn’t have talented data analytics teaching staff in both schools, and universities we will not be equipped to teach the next generations of data scientists.
This is clearly a vicious cycle, and in the short term may be remedied by hiring academic migrants.
Since the closure of the Post study work visa in 2012, there has been a perceived gap in the policy system for retaining skilled, but not necessarily world leading or entrepreneurial graduates. In recent years we have seen tightening, but relatively stable conditions for academic mobility to the UK. In many instances academic staff will take the Tier 2 (General) route, applying under the resident labour market test.
To pass the test, an employer must have advertised the job in an appropriate way for the sector and be able to show that no suitably skilled, settled worker can do the job. UKVI decides where the employer must advertise the job, for how long, and what information needs to be included in the advertisement.
This route can be particularly onerous for employers for two main reasons: 1) the process is extremely time consuming (with no guarantee of a return on the time invested), and 2) the cap might mean that no visas are left - at best postponing the application, and at worst abandoning it altogether.
Some good news for the postdoc applicant is that employers can offer a job to some migrants without having to meet all of the conditions of the resident labour market test, for example, if the job is on the list of PhD level jobs.
In addition to the productivity benefits of data driven decision making in companies (outlined in Skills of the Datavores), we know that a culturally diverse workforce can bring a number of externalities that boost innovation. These include generating new ideas and helping to reach international markets.
The government should therefore focus on skilled migration as an integral component of the skills pipeline - looking at how we can more effectively use these workers to strategically fill data skills gaps in both industry and academia, where it is likely that initiatives to train data talent will lag behind demand in coming years.
Find out more...
In terms of understanding this Tier 2 route and overcoming the speculation and angst do contact us at consult@mavisas.co.uk. We are always looking to speak to highly skilled consultants who are looking for role and require visa sponsorship. In addition you may be a client and looking at your options or to have a consultant who is on Tier 2 General working on a project for you. Happy to discuss further.
Thanks in advance
Mason Alexander