Firms may have to insure migrants: Your view on immigration cap (VIDEO)

FIRMS could be forced to take out private health insurance for migrant workers in a bid to ease the "undue" pressure of immigrants on the NHS, the Government said yesterday.

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Home Secretary Theresa May announced the idea as part of plans to introduce a cap on the numbers of skilled migrants coming to the UK from outside the EU next year.

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An immediate 5 per cent reduction has been imposed to prevent a rush of applications while an independent body consults on where the limit should be set from April next year.

Mrs May signalled that those considerations would take into account the social impact on local services such as health, housing and schools as well as the economic effects.

And she rejected fears it could prevent firms recruiting the experienced staff they needed, launching a 12-week consultation with business over how the cap would work in practice.

The Government said the cap was "an important part" of efforts to reduce net immigration to the "tens of thousands" a year, rather than the hundreds of thousands.

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But Shadow Home Secretary Alan Johnson said it was a "minor" change that would not only apply to just one in seven would-be migrants but would hit those most needed by the UK's economy.

Care home bosses warned the changes would force them to take on less qualified staff, attacking the Government for withdrawing support for training home-grown workers for the role.

Some senior Tories are understood to have privately raised concerns about the impact on businesses, while the Liberal Democrat coalition partners opposed the idea during the election.

Under the interim cap, the numbers of highly-skilled workers allowed would be kept to last year's levels at 5,400, and higher entry requirements would be imposed under the points-based system.

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The number of second-tier skilled workers would be reduced by 1,300 to 18,700.

Investors, entrepreneurs, in-country applicants, those on the post-study work schemes, ministers of religion and elite sports people are all exempt from the interim cap.

Mrs May said she had asked the independent Migration Advisory Committee to determine the level for the first year of the permanent cap by the end of September.

It would consult with businesses but also take into account the "wider range of impact" on local communities.

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She also announced a series of proposals for how the cap could operate, insisting they offered the "degrees of flexibility" being demanded by the business community.

That could include quarterly rather than annual applications, and the possibility of pitting firms against each other in an "auction" for available visas.

Among a raft of suggestions was the idea of requiring employers to provide health insurance for migrant workers in an effort to show they would not be relying on stretched NHS services.

Bosses bringing in foreign talent could be required to support apprenticeship schemes at the same time in a bid to improve training for home-grown workers.

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Rule changes could also oblige employers to show they had taken "every reasonable avenue to recruit a resident worker" before looking overseas, the consultation document said.

The CBI said a cap was a "valid" measure to deal with the pressures caused by immigration but said it was vital the right balance was found.

And Martin Green, chief executive of the English Community Care Association (ECCA), complained that schemes to train up UK workers to fill vacancies were being scrapped at the same time.