The double whammy of Brexit and the Covid pandemic has conspired to leave the United Kingdom with a shortage of workers in a number of areas. Everything from hospitality to healthcare is being affected by the lack of those able to take up the jobs.
However, a new report by the Lifelong Eduction Commission, as reported by politics.co.uk, shows there could be a solution that’s already on Britain’s shores: migrants and asylum seekers.
What holds many of these back from taking up the empty posts is poor English language proficiency, according to the author of the report, Andy Forbes, who is the Head of Development at the Lifelong Education Commission. He believes that offering this pool of potential workers free English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) courses could be the solution. His suggestion is that all those seeking citizenship who have been in the UK for at least six months be offered this, probably through FE and HE colleges.
Although this would entail costs at one end, it would boost the UK’s economy at the other.
