http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukne...UK-a-year.html
Just six firms, all based in India, recruited a total of 11,644 immigrants to work for them in the UK in 2006, the most recent figure available.
The Home Office figures, released to The Sunday Telegraph after a two-year Freedom of Information battle, brought claims from a trade union that employers are "abusing" the work permit system.
Peter Skyte, national officer of the Unite union, said: "It may be that there are skill needs that can be filled by overseas workers but this should not be at the expense of resident workers.
"Questions need to be asked about how this is happening and whether companies are using the current work permits system to undercut pay rates in the UK."
Over a seven-year period, the six companies -- Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro, Mahindra-BT, Mastek, Infosys Technologies and Satyam Computer Services -- were granted work permits to bring 47,000 foreign nationals into the UK. Their annual total has climbed steadily every year since 2000 and has doubled since 2003.
The majority are thought to have been Indian nationals. The Home Office could not say how many have settled in the UK and how many have returned to their homeland.
The largest single sponsor of foreign workers was Tata, which secured permits for just under 4,000 foreign workers in 2006 compared with less than 1,600 in 2000.
Much of the work of the six companies involves outsourcing, where British companies or public-sector organisations bring in a separate company to operate their computer system.
Unite criticised the potential for abuse of the work permits system, particularly "intra company transfers" which allow employees based abroad to move to a UK office.
In some cases, companies have brought staff from India to Britain to learn about operations such as call-centres, before shutting down the British businesses and moving the staff back to India to replicate the operation there.
The system by which foreign workers come to Britain is due for radical reform later this year when the Home Office launches an Australian-style points-based system, by which foreigners will have to show they have qualifications and experience in a profession where
But Mr Skyte said concerns remained. "There are serious questions about whether the points-based system will address some of the loopholes that we believe are in the current arrangements," he said.
"We don't know whether it will stop all of the abuse that is taking place."
Salary figures reveal that British IT workers earned an average of £35,000 a year in 2006 while two-thirds of foreign-born employees in the same sector were paid under £30,000 a year.
In a report entitled The impact of the work permit scheme on IT professionals in the UK, Mr Skyte wrote: "The question needs to be asked whether the skills represented in these figures are not availabe in the UK, which would be a justifiable use of the work permit system, or whether these companies are bringing in non-resident work permit holders at below going pay rates in the UK, which would not."
The figures include both employees on short-term and long-term work permits. Immigrants who live and work in Britain for five years continuously without getting into trouble with the law have the right to apply for permanent settlement rights, which are usually granted.
<cue the send em all home brigade>
Just six firms, all based in India, recruited a total of 11,644 immigrants to work for them in the UK in 2006, the most recent figure available.
The Home Office figures, released to The Sunday Telegraph after a two-year Freedom of Information battle, brought claims from a trade union that employers are "abusing" the work permit system.
Peter Skyte, national officer of the Unite union, said: "It may be that there are skill needs that can be filled by overseas workers but this should not be at the expense of resident workers.
"Questions need to be asked about how this is happening and whether companies are using the current work permits system to undercut pay rates in the UK."
Over a seven-year period, the six companies -- Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro, Mahindra-BT, Mastek, Infosys Technologies and Satyam Computer Services -- were granted work permits to bring 47,000 foreign nationals into the UK. Their annual total has climbed steadily every year since 2000 and has doubled since 2003.
The majority are thought to have been Indian nationals. The Home Office could not say how many have settled in the UK and how many have returned to their homeland.
The largest single sponsor of foreign workers was Tata, which secured permits for just under 4,000 foreign workers in 2006 compared with less than 1,600 in 2000.
Much of the work of the six companies involves outsourcing, where British companies or public-sector organisations bring in a separate company to operate their computer system.
Unite criticised the potential for abuse of the work permits system, particularly "intra company transfers" which allow employees based abroad to move to a UK office.
In some cases, companies have brought staff from India to Britain to learn about operations such as call-centres, before shutting down the British businesses and moving the staff back to India to replicate the operation there.
The system by which foreign workers come to Britain is due for radical reform later this year when the Home Office launches an Australian-style points-based system, by which foreigners will have to show they have qualifications and experience in a profession where
But Mr Skyte said concerns remained. "There are serious questions about whether the points-based system will address some of the loopholes that we believe are in the current arrangements," he said.
"We don't know whether it will stop all of the abuse that is taking place."
Salary figures reveal that British IT workers earned an average of £35,000 a year in 2006 while two-thirds of foreign-born employees in the same sector were paid under £30,000 a year.
In a report entitled The impact of the work permit scheme on IT professionals in the UK, Mr Skyte wrote: "The question needs to be asked whether the skills represented in these figures are not availabe in the UK, which would be a justifiable use of the work permit system, or whether these companies are bringing in non-resident work permit holders at below going pay rates in the UK, which would not."
The figures include both employees on short-term and long-term work permits. Immigrants who live and work in Britain for five years continuously without getting into trouble with the law have the right to apply for permanent settlement rights, which are usually granted.
<cue the send em all home brigade>
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