Ministers have been slammed for offering “zero transparency” over how £1.5 billion generated through taxing employers for hiring migrants has been reinvested into skills training programmes.
An FE Week investigation found the government cannot provide evidence of whether it is meeting its pledge to reduce Britain’s reliance on overseas workers and upskill domestic workers with funding from the immigration skills charge (ISC).
The tax was introduced in April 2017 and an explanatory memorandum published by the Department for Education alongside the legislation specifically stated that income raised will be put towards programmes that “address skills gaps in the UK workforce”.
Receipts from the charge have grown exponentially (see table), starting at £91 million in its first year before ballooning to £586 million in 2022/23 alone. It has generated a total of £1.465 billion in total over the last six years.
