Cutting migration is no quick fix for UK employment woes
Declining immigration threatens to widen skills gaps rather than close them, writes Dr Mandy Crawford-Lee
According to the Milburn report, over 1 million young people in the UK are classed as NEET (not in education, employment, or training).
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That’s 13.5% of all 18–24-year-olds, a statistic which the Prime Minister described as a “sobering reality”.
Higher apprenticeships, technical education, and professional education are pivotal ways to change this reality.
Indeed, this principle must apply to all age levels, not just NEETs. Our skills system should support everyone to upskill and reskill.
Our mission at the University Vocational Awards Council (UVAC) is to maximise the contribution of universities and higher education institutions to skills provision and higher-level vocational learning.
The skills debate often overlaps with wider political arguments over immigration. Interestingly, the most recent figures showed a significant decrease in net migration.
Politicians often frame this as a win-win: more job opportunities for UK workers. However, the Milburn Review found little evidence that migration is a primary driver of rising NEET levels.
Indeed, the opposite is true. The latest figures should ring alarm bells in Westminster. Declining immigration threatens to widen skills gaps rather than close them.
The UK faces persistent skills gaps in many key sectors, including those identified in the Industrial Strategy and other critical occupations such as healthcare.
Around 27 per cent of NHS nurses are recruited from overseas. This is no longer a short-term dependency but a structural one. International recruitment has become part of a system that struggles to train and retain domestic staff.
Relying on overseas labour to plug chronic shortages leaves essential services vulnerable to global competition and shifting migration patterns.
How do we close these persistent skills gaps?
As UVAC has argued for many years, a practical starting point would be closer collaboration between the Migration Advisory Committee and Skills England. Together, they should map where domestic training pipelines can meet labour demand, and where targeted migration will remain necessary. We should focus not only on those at the beginning of their careers but also on those looking to reskill.
This kind of joined-up planning would move us beyond reactive policymaking towards a system that anticipates strategic future needs. Apprenticeships and vocational programmes are a key way to ensure sustainable structures help to fill these gaps domestically.
Reducing migration will not solve the UK’s employment challenge. We must strengthen domestic skills by supporting universities to deliver the higher education and apprenticeships programmes needed to close skills gaps and, in the context of the Milburn Review, reduce NEET levels nationwide.
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Dr Mandy Crawford-Lee is Chief Executive of the University Vocational Awards Council (UVAC).
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