The figures speak for themselves. Since 2007, work related emigration has risen 16% while work related immigration has fallen 24%.
If this mismatch continues, forecasts from specialist recruiter Randstad Financial & Professional suggest the UK faces a workforce shortfall of 3.1m people by 2050 – nearly 10% short of the required workforce to support the population expected in the coming decades.
Organisations must have access to highly skilled staff in order to succeed. Our industry relies on a host of different professions – from lenders, brokers and introducers to conveyancers, surveyors and estate agents. Many of the people working in these professions were not born in this country. To thrive our industry needs the young lawyers from South Africa, the talented tax accountants from Australia, and the ambitious insolvency practitioners from New Zealand. Without them, frankly, we’re cutting off our collective nose to spite our face. In the long run, a skills shortage will hold back the recovery and strangle growth. SMEs and small businesses – the bread and butter of our sector – will be forced to increase their spending on salaries. That wage inflation will hit profits.
Now, the government is not completely ignorant of this situation. When he appointed Mark Carney as the next Governor of the Bank of England back in November, George Osborne proved he knows the best candidates are, sometimes, from overseas. Carney is Canadian, and currently the Governor of the Bank of Canada, making him the first non-British head of the Bank of England since its creation.
The government must now ensure this approach is allowed to run smoothly across the entire financial services and mortgage workforce – not just at the very top.
