Manchester IR Society/ Industrial Law Society Meeting 12 February 2026

Future directions in labour migration law and policy

The United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union marked the start of a new phase in labour migration policy. From 1 January 2021, a ‘points-based’ system was introduced, requiring most people coming to the UK for work to obtain an employer-sponsored visa. The new system has attracted a significant amount of controversy due to the high numbers of foreign-born workers entering the country. Another source of concern has been the many instances of labour exploitation experienced by those migrating for work, especially in the social care sector. The Sunak Conservative government introduced a range of reforms to reduce numbers, and the incoming Labour government has expanded on some of these measures.

Even though people coming to the UK on work visas has started to decrease, further reforms are likely to be implemented. The government has indicated that it plans to take steps to bolster local skills in demand, thereby reducing the need for work visas. They intend for the labour migration system to respond more closely to labour market demands using a new institutional framework that would see the long-standing Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) work closely with new bodies, such as Skills England. In some cases, the government wants to make access to work visas contingent on the implementation of sectoral workforce plans. Overall, it is envisaged that unions and employer representative bodies will become more involved in the design and implementation of the labour migration system.

It is also important to consider the government’s broader plans to “make work pay” alongside these migration measures. The government has already accepted in full the Low Pay Commission’s recommendations to increase the National Living Wage. An Employment Rights Bill is wending its way through Parliament which would implement a series of reforms to employment rights to reduce precarious working arrangements (e.g., limiting the use of ‘zero-hour contracts’), strengthen job security (e.g., faster qualification for unfair dismissal), and improve government enforcement of rights (e.g., consolidating the current patchwork of enforcement agencies under a single enforcement body known as the ‘Fair Work Agency’).

By developing the local skills base on a sector-by-sector basis, and improving working conditions across the board, the government expects to be able to reduce employers’ reliance on migrant workers. This talk assesses whether this deeply technocratic and corporatist vision is likely to be realised in a way that meets all stakeholders’ needs while building broader political consensus on the overall direction of the labour migration system.

BIOGRAPHY

Manoj Dias-Abey is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Bristol Law School. Manoj is a sociolegal scholar who researches in the areas of labour and migration law. His currently working on a project that examines how the UK has historically thought about and regulated labour migration. He has two other active projects: one which examines the work of labour enforcement agencies, and another that looks at how trade unions make use of strategic litigation. He currently sits on the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Law in Context and co-convenes the ‘law and political economy’ stream of the Socio-Legal Studies Association.

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Host or Publisher Stephen Mustchin / Manchester Industrial Relations Society