The point based system used to manage UK immigration has a good deal of “room for improvement”, according to Rt Hon Margaret Hodge MP, Chair of the Committee of Public Accounts.

Yesterday, the Committee published a report which examines the management of work routes of the Points Based System for Immigration from evidence supplied by the Home Office and the UK Border Agency.

Speaking as the Committee published the report, Hodge said: “The Points Based System, introduced to manage economic migration from countries outside the EEA [European Economic Area], is better than the visa system it replaced. But there is still a good deal of room for improvement. ??

”We are concerned at the lack of control of workers entering Britain through the intra-company transfer system. This allows multinationals to transfer their workers to the UK and is not covered by the immigration cap. Most workers enter through this route and, for instance, tens of thousands of IT workers have been brought in through intra-company transfers at a time when UK residents with IT skills are struggling to find work.??

”The Agency has not got a grip on making sure that migrant workers whose visas have expired actually leave the UK. It estimates that 181,000 such workers are staying on without permission – but it can’t even verify the figures, and does not try to enforce the employer’s duty to ensure that the people they bring in leave when they are required to do so.”

Gillian Econopouly, Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) head of public policy, adds: “Fundamentally,  the immigration system needs to be flexible to business and this includes the  ability to bring senior internal people across from other countries in order  to lead projects and create more jobs. The exemption for ICTs is a sensible  step in this regard, which the REC has long supported.

“However, if the exemption is not properly policed and implemented there is the  potential for abuse. The minimum salary of £40,000 must be rigorously enforced  by the UK Border Agency to ensure employers do not use allowances to create an  artificial salary that allows them to bring in an overseas worker to do a job  for less money.”