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.