In the latest instalment of our Job Creators series, we reveal the proportion of Britain’s 100 fastest-growing companies with at least one foreign-born founder. For the second year running, it stands at 54%, equalling the highest figure since we started tracking it in 2019. Together, these companies are worth £15.84 billion, which is 70% of the top 100’s combined valuation.
Of the 225 founders behind them, 44% were born overseas. That’s more than double the foreign-born share of the UK population. The Government is still deciding whether to double the qualifying period for settlement from five years to ten. Until it does, founders and the people they want to hire are making long-term decisions under settlement rules that don’t yet exist.
To fix this, we set out six reforms that would keep Britain open to the world’s brightest and best. Almost all of them could be made without primary legislation, and none would materially increase net migration.