First the good news. Right now, you can materially contribute to making the UK a better place to start and grow a business. The bad news is that it involves filling out this survey.
We get it. Nobody likes filling out surveys – least of all me. But this one really matters.
We want the insights of actual entrepreneurs – not simply sole traders or senior decision-makers in large firms, who already have their own ways of getting their views across. We pride ourselves on being the voice of entrepreneurs, so we’ve created a real opportunity for your voice to be heard by those in Westminster.
This isn’t something we wanted to do by halves – that’s why we’ve crafted it in partnership with the experts at Public First. We’ve tested it with real entrepreneurs and I promise it will only take you between six and ten minutes.
If enough of you respond, we’ll run it on a regular basis. Some of the questions in it will remain the same each time, allowing us to track trends on various issues, while others will focus on topical issues that might be dominating the conversation. Everyone on this newsletter will be able to feed into what we should ask.
As a bit of an inducement – not that you need it, of course – we’ll be inviting those who respond to a launch party for the results in the City of London next month at Wedlake Bell. Places for that will be on a first-come basis, so don’t delay – fill out the survey here.
Island of Stragglers
As you’ll know, one of the survey questions concerns visas and immigration. This was a last-minute decision in response to the Government’s Immigration White Paper, which was released on Monday.
It’s bad news for British businesses. Under the plans set out in the White Paper, fewer jobs will qualify for sponsorship as the skill threshold for Skilled Worker visas rises to degree level, with only some mid-level roles temporarily allowed under a new Shortage Occupation List.
At the same time, minimum salary requirements will increase, Graduate visas will be shortened to 18 months, and the Immigration Skills Charge will rise by 32% to £1,320 per year. English language requirements will be tougher, including for dependants. The path to Indefinite Leave to Remain will be extended to ten years for Skilled Worker visa holders, with some accelerated routes, and reportedly these changes could apply to current visa holders, subject to consultation.
As Nick Rollason, Head of Immigration at the law firm Kingsley Napley, explained in the Financial Times, the combination of higher fees, higher salary thresholds and a potential ten-year wait for settlement could push the total cost of sponsoring a skilled worker with a partner and two children as high as £67,000, if the employer bore the full cost.
If the ten-year wait is imposed widely, it would be disastrous for attracting and retaining talent here. If it applies to those who are already here, it would be immoral – and likely illegal, as was the case in 2009 when the government tried to do something like this with the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme (HSMP) visa.
A nod was given to the needs of entrepreneurs, with things like the Government looking into potentially doubling of the High Potential Individual (HPI) visa, which is exactly what we called for in Job Creators 2024. But as Bella Rhodes argues in City A.M., exceptional and entrepreneurial talent is just the tip of the iceberg. The risk isn’t so much becoming a nation of strangers, but becoming a nation of stragglers.
As you might expect, there are a lot of conversations happening about how to have an impact before some of this becomes law. If you’re keen to have your say – besides filling in the survey, which, of course, you’ve already done or shared – drop me a message so I can know to keep you updated.
Peer Review
As you may have spotted, on Monday we released a letter on the Data (Use and Access) Bill. Our request was a rather modest one. As I wrote for Forbes:
“The proposed amendments reveal a fundamental misunderstanding of AI development. They would impose crushing transparency obligations – like monthly reporting of comprehensive training data – that bear no relation to how modern AI systems are actually built.”
It was signed by the great and the good: Professor Lord Tarassenko (Oxehealth), Professor Alison Noble CBE (Intelligent Ultrasound), Sir John Michael Brady (Perspectum, Optellum, Naitive Technologies, ScreenPoint Medical, and Oxford Community Diagnostics Centre), Professor Niki Trigoni (Navenio), Professor Paul Newman (Oxa Autonomy), and many more besides. Lord Tarassenko went on to mention the letter in the House of Lords.
Drop me a message if you have views on this thorny but critical policy issue.
Lilacs Are New
This week also saw the release of the final report from The Lilac Review. I’ve been on its Steering Committee, so it’s wonderful to see this come to fruition. The Review sees the launch of the LILAC Centre for Disabled Entrepreneurship, the UK’s first flagship business incubator and research centre dedicated to advancing the success of disabled entrepreneurs.