Pan-jurisdictional guides

Latest visa application figures confirm continuing reductions in Skilled Worker and Student routes

The Home Office has released provisional statistics on entry clearance visa applications up to November 2024. The data confirms the ongoing significant changes in application patterns following recent immigration policy reforms. Health and Care Worker visa applications have markedly decreased, with only 1,900 main applicant applications in November 2024, down from a peak of 18,300 in August 2023. Skilled Worker visa applications also declined to 4,100 in November 2024 (down from around 6,000 per month between January 2022 and March 2024, and a peak of 10,100 in April 2024). Sponsored study visa applications for January to November 2024 were 16% lower than the same period in 2023, with a substantial 85% reduction in dependant applications following new restrictions. These trends reflect the impact of policy changes implemented throughout 2024, including increased salary thresholds for Skilled Workers and limitations on dependants for Students and care workers.

Employment weekly highlights—12 December 2024

This edition of Employment weekly highlights includes: (1) a webinar from Lexis+ UK Employment team member Cathy Hoar, and Stephen Ratcliffe of Baker & McKenzie looking at some of the most significant changes contained in the Employment Rights Bill, (2) analysis by Victoria Hordern of Taylor Wessing LLP of the Data (Use and Access) Bill, (3) a successful paternity leave sex discrimination employment tribunal claim, (4) notice that all employment tribunal online services (affecting submission of ET1s, ET3s and digital applications) will be temporarily unavailable between 18.00 and 23.00 on Monday 16 December 2024 due to a planned upgrade, (5) our new Practice Note providing a destination table showing how the Employment Tribunal Procedure Rules 2024 (ET Rules 2024), in force from 6 January 2025, correspond to the ET Rules 2013 which they replace, (6) our new Precedent comprising a set of clauses that may be inserted by a customer into a contract with a supplier to help the customer (as an employer) comply with its duty to prevent sexual harassment under section 40A of the Equality Act 2010, (7) dates for your diary, and (8) other news items of interest to employment practitioners.

New labour regulator more than sum of parts, creators say

Law360: The UK's proposed Fair Work Agency will be 'more than the sum of its parts', the heads of the labour enforcement bodies being absorbed to form the new super-regulator say.

SFO 'scrambling in the dark' without tip-offs, director says

Law360, London: The head of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) called for the UK to pay whistleblowers in economic crime cases, admitting on 10 December 2024 that investigators are 'scrambling in the dark' to get to the heart of complex cases as momentum grows for a government review of the issue.