WIREDGOV

MAC advice on worker registration scheme accepted

HOME OFFICE News Release (MAC 001/2009) issued by COI News Distribution Service on 8 April 2009

The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) is pleased that the Government has today decided to accept its advice and maintain the Worker Registration Scheme (WRS) for a further two years.

The WRS was introduced in 2004 in order to register A8 nationals who are allowed to come and work in the UK. This allows the Government to collect information on those who come to live and work here.

The European Treaty of Accession means that the WRS will automatically come to an end in 2011, but had to be reviewed after five years. The Government asked the MAC, an independent advisory body, to consider whether it should continue until that time.

The MAC advised that the scheme should remain in place for workers from the A8 countries who want to come and work in the UK.

MAC member Dr Diane Coyle OBE, said:

"We are pleased that the Government has accepted our advice. Our recommendation to keep the worker registration scheme (WRS) in place was made in the best interests of the UK given the current economic challenges.

"We believe that abolishing thw WRS now might slightly reduce the number of jobs available to UK workers, and that the Government should continue to monitor those who come to the UK seeking employment.

"We will continue to provide evidence-based recommendations to the Government on immigration issues such as the points based system, including the shortage occupation list."

In undertaking this report, the MAC consulted with stakeholders from across the UK and the A8 countries.

NOTES TO EDITORS

1. Further details on the MAC, a full copy of the report and details of other upcoming reports can be found on the website: http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/aboutus/workingwithus/indbodies/mac/

2. The A8 countries are the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia.

3. To register on the WRS costs £90.

4. Further details on the WRS can be found on the Home Office website:

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/workingintheuk/eea/wrs/

5. The Migration Advisory Committee is an independent advisory body which provides evidence-based recommendations to the Government on immigration issues. The committee is made up of five economists and two ex-officio members.

6. The MAC was asked to undertake this report on the WRS in February of this year, meaning that consultations were limited.

7. Dr Diane Coyle OBE attended the University of Oxford, and gained a PhD in Economics from Harvard University, graduating in 1985.

She was an advisor to the Untied Kingdom Treasury from 1985 to 1986. She later became European Editor of the Investors Chronicle and was economics editor of The Independent up to 2001.

Diane Coyle is Managing Director of Enlightenment Economics. She is also visiting Professor at the University of Manchester's Institute for Political and Economic Governance. She has written several books on economics.

She is a member of the United Kingdom's Competition Commission and is a member of the BBC Trust. She serves on the Executive Committee of the Centre for Economic Policy Research and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Diane received an OBE in the 2009 New Years Honours for services to economics.

8. For more information, contact the MAC press officer, Janine Lloyd-Jones, on 020 7035 3535.