Memorandum submitted by Jabez Lam on behalf
of the Chinese Immigration Concern Committee
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
1. Chinese catering has taken root in UK
since the 1950's, for over half a century.
2. Today, there are 17,500 Chinese catering outlets
in the UK, has an annual turnover of nearly £5 billion employing
100,000 workers directly; together with the related businesses
are employing over 50% of the UK Chinese working population. British
Chinese catering is the economic backbone of Chinese community
in UK.
3. Since the 1980s, UK Chinese catering experienced
a continuous labour shortage as children left their family in
pursuit of their own careers. The Chinese catering industry has
relied on migrant workers to fill the vacancies and support its
growth.
4. In mid-1990s to early 2000 tens of thousands
of Chinese asylum seekers came to UK, asylum seekers and unsuccessful
asylum seekers awaiting removal were permitted to work after in
UK for 6 months. In 2002, the law has changed such that they no
longer allowed to work due to changes in the immigration rules,
the change was applied retrospectively.
5. From the mid 1990s onwards many Chinese
asylum seekers arrived in the United Kingdom. At the time, after
they have applied for six months and without decision on their
application, they will be eligible to apply, most were granted,
for eligibility to work from the Home Office.
6. The government launched the "Stop
Illegal Working Campaign" in January this year, and the implementation
of the Points Based System raised the awareness on document checks
on employees' immigration status. A new guidance was issued in
February 2008, requiring employers to carry out repeat check on
employee's immigration documents once every 12 months. Upon applying
the steps in the 2008 new guidance, it was found that many workers
do not possess the right documentation.
7. British Chinese catering industry was
thrown into a crisis of acute labour shortage, many have closed
their businesses or reduced their operation. Others, in particular
those businesses that carried a big loan, face bankruptcy, personal
and financial ruins if stop trading.
8. Migrant to be considered under Tier
Tiers 2 of the Points Based System Tier 2 must be skilled labour
at a skill level of NVQ3 or above. The NVQ Level 3 Professional
Cookery, courses do not contain any unit or content on Chinese
cooking.
9. In the absence of appropriate formal
qualifications to measure the skills in Chinese catering, People
1st, the Sector Skills Council for the hospitality, leisure, travel
and tourism sector conducted a research to determine skill level
of occupations in Chinese kitchens.
10. If British Chinese catering occupations
are not on the SOL, Chinese catering will not be able to meet
the NVQ3 qualification and high salaries requirements to earn
sufficient PBS Points to bring in workers to remedy the acute
labour shortage.
11. Authenticity is an important factor
in the recruitment of labour to Chinese catering, which makes
EEA nationals not suitable to most positions in British Chinese
catering.
12. English requirement for Chinese catering
kitchen occupations prior to enter to UK may risks causing barriers
to recruit good skilled Chinese chefs to fill Chinese chef positions
even if the occupations are included in the Shortage Occupations
List.
13. CICC proposes that a in-country compulsory
English classes for migrants, provided by employer, after entry
is a more effective way to fulfil the government objectives on
English requirements.
14. Over three quarter of British Chinese
catering businesses are micro businesses employing up to ten people
and of annual turnover of £400,000. The risks, the duties
and the cost are overbearing burden that British Chinese catering
micro business may find difficult to meet.
15. It is with regret to note from the UKBA
"Impact Assessment of Tier 2 of the PBS for Immigrant"
that the Government paid no attention to the potential adverse
impact to the ethnic catering businesses, thus no provision had
been made to mitigate the adverse impact it caused.
16. The implementation of the Points Based
System has created the opposite outcome from the government's
intended objectives, and that it had undermined the potential
benefits that the Points Based System might bring about in the
long term.
17. There is a real danger of a meltdown
in Chinese catering industry, a collapse in British Chinese catering
industry UK will have negative impacts on the mainstream catering
and tourist industry, and have serious knock on effect on the
well being of Chinese community. Businesses and families who have
lost their livelihood will have to rely on state benefits instead
of making a position contribution to the economy.
18. CICC recommends the following programme
as a transition to the full implementation of the PBS:
18.1 To grant temporary eligibility to work to
Chinese asylum seekers and failed asylum seekers awaiting removal,
this is an immediate short term solution that will will alleviate
the immediate staff shortage in British Chinese catering.
18.2 To include Chinese catering occupation onto
the Shortage Occupation List to enable Chinese catering to recruit
from overseas. This will be the medium solution to find suitable
skill workers to replace illegal workers eventually removed.
18.3 To work with the Chinese catering community
to invest in training and education to up-skill local workforce
to enable a healthy supply of chef and front house staff to Chinese
catering.
1. I am the Co-ordinator of the Chinese
Immigration Concern Committee, which is a membership based voluntary
organisation aims to to represent the Chinese community to engage
with the immigration authority constructively.
2. I will start from the conditions in the
British Chinese catering industry, and to compare the conditions
with the Government stated objectives of the Points Based System.
CHINESE CATERING
3. Chinese catering has taken root in UK
since the 1950's, for over half a century, Chinese catering developed
from the "chop suey houses" in the 1950's; to the emerging
of authentic Chinese food takeaways and restaurants in the 1970s;
the Chinese specialist restaurants such as dim sum and banquets
in the1980's; and the Chinese fine dining sector in recent years.
Chinese catering in Britain is growing and developing.
4. The conventional supply of labour to the catering
industry is through training and education. There are courses
on tourism, hotel and catering, and professional cookery in UK
education establishments; however, none contains any specific
content on professional Chinese cookery/catering. In the absence
of education and training opportunities appropriate to Chinese
catering, the industry relies on itself to provide on the job
training and recruitment from overseas as the labour source to
maintain the industry in a healthy labour market and development
in British Chinese catering market.
5. Today, Chinese catering is an integral
part of the British catering and tourist industries. It is estimated
that there are 17,500 Chinese catering outlets in the UK, two
third of which are takeaways, the remaining are restaurants. British
Chinese catering has an annual turnover of nearly £5 billion
employing 100,000 workers directly; together with the related
businesses such as meat, food, produce, delivery, wine and drinks
are employing over 50% of the UK Chinese working population. It
is not an exaggeration to say that Chinese catering is the economic
backbone of Chinese community in UK.
6. Since the 1980s, UK Chinese catering
experienced a continuous labour shortage as children left their
family in pursuit of their own careers. The Chinese catering industry
has relied on migrant workers to fill the vacancies and support
its growth.
7. In the 50's to 70's, the arrival of thousands
of Chinese from New Territories and other commonwealth countries
supplied the first wave of Chinese catering migrant workers; in
the 70's those settled in UK brought their families to join them
as family reunion, tens of thousands of new workforce for the
growth in family run catering businesses; between 1979 to 1983
20,000 Chinese from Vietnam arrived in the UK as refugees; between
1989 to 1993 some 7,000-9,000 Chinese were granted exceptional
leave to remain as a result of the Beijing Tiananmen Massacre;
in mid-1990s to early 2000 tens of thousands of Chinese asylum
seekers from Fujian and other Chinese provinces following banning
of Fa Lun Gung and other religious groups in China; and a smaller
number came to UK as a result of Hong Kong and Macau reunification
with China in 1997 and 1999 respectively. Each wave of new Chinese
migrant provided new workforce to the Chinese catering industry
and brought with them knowledge and skills of new cuisines.
8. As we can see from above, the success
of the British Chinese catering industry is largely, if not entirely,
built on the continuous supply of migrant labour. The industry
has been on a healthy growth and development for half a century.
Migrant workers to Chinese catering is an organic component of
the business, with Chinese catering flourishing with each wave
of migrant workers becoming settled. They added new experience,
resources, variety and innovation to Chinese catering in UK, bringing
the trade to a new level in both quantity of outlet and dishes
combined with a rise in quality of Chinese cuisines and services.
ILLEGAL WORKERS
9. From the mid 1990s onwards many Chinese
asylum seekers arrived in the United Kingdom. At the time, after
they have applied for six months and without decision on their
application, they will be eligible to apply for eligibility to
work from the Home Office. Then in 2002, employers were required
by the Home Office at the time to check their workers immigration
status specifically (a proper wage slip with NI no. is adequate).
They were required to check once when they employed the workers.
10. Most recently, the Government changed it
policy requiring the employer to periodically check all its staff
immigration status. However, during training provided by the Home
Office in China Town the trainers were unable to specify what
it means as periodically. Without providing adequate training
to the employers, they will be forced to dismiss workers which
have difficulties in providing evidence of their immigration status.
However, in many circumstances it is the Home Office that created
the situation by not able to deal with the asylum application
quick enough.
11. The government launched the "Stop
Illegal Working Campaign" in January this year, the campaign
raised the awareness on the new guidance. Upon applying the steps
in the 2008 new guidance, many workers were founded do not possess
the right documentation; the scale of the labour shortage in British
Chinese catering became quantified. Many undocumented workers
were dismissed but the businesses were unable to find replacement
to fill the vacancies. It is estimated that tens of thousands
of Chinese "undocumented workers" in UK, most are failed
asylum seekers; many had been working in Chinese catering before
to 2004.
12. British Chinese catering was thrown
into a crisis of acute labour shortage, many have closed their
businesses or reduced their operations since the beginning of
this year because of staff shortages. Some, in particular those
businesses that carried a big loan, may take the risk to continue
trading with undocumented workers; the alternative is not only
stop trading and loss their livelihood, it also means bankruptcy,
personal and financial ruins.
POINTS BASED
SYSTEM TIER
2
Migration Advisory Committee
13. Tiers 2 of the Points Based System regulates
the route for skilled migrants to enter into UK. In the Tiers
2 "Statement of Intend" published in June 2008, it said
13.1 "The Skilled Migrant tier (Tier 2)
is aimed at enabling UK employers to recruit individuals from
outside the European Economic Area (EEA) to fill a particular
job that cannot be filled by a British or EEA worker. By filling
this job the migrant will contribute to the growth and productivity
of the UK without displacing British workers."
14. The government appointed the Migration Advisory
Committee (MAC) to provide independent, transparent and evidence
based advice on where labour market shortages exist that can sensibly
be filled by migration. The MAC is to produce a Shortage Occupations
List (SOL) to advice the government on this. Occupations on the
SOL will automatically granted the necessary PBS points. Migrant
to be considered under Tier 2 must be skilled labour at a skill
level of NVQ3 or above.
15. Immigration Concern Committee researched
on the course contents of the NVQ Level 3 Professional Cookery,
or the NVQ Level 3 Food Preparation and Cooking, and found that
none of the courses contain any unit or content on Chinese cooking.
People 1st, the Sector Skills Council for the hospitality, leisure,
travel and tourism sector is now looking to develop course units
or contents to make the said NVQ3 courses relevant to Chinese
catering.
16. In the absence of appropriate formal
qualifications to measure the skills in Chinese catering, People1st
recent conducted a research on the roles, responsibilities, and
skills of chefs in Asian and Oriental catering. It found that
for Chinese catering, the following -occupations are of skills
level of NVQ3 or above:
|
|
| Occupation | NVQ Level
| Category |
|
| Head chef | NVQ 4 | Chinese Fine Dining
|
| Sous chef | NVQ 3/4 | Chinese Fine Dining
|
| Cooking chef | NVQ 3 | Chinese Fine Dining
|
| Pastry chef | NVQ 3 | Chinese Fine Dining
|
| Roasting and cold products Chef | NVQ 3
| Chinese Fine Dining |
| Head chef | NVQ 3 | Chinese Mainstream
|
| Deep-frying chef | NVQ 3 |
Chinese Mainstream |
|
| |
|
17. CICC made strong representation to the MAC to put
the case of occupations in Chinese catering are skilled, has severe
labour shortage, the vacancies cannot be filled by a British or
EEA worker, and that it is sensible to fill the vacancies by migrants
from outside EEA.
18. If British Chinese catering occupations are not on
the SOL, Chinese catering will not be able to meet the NVQ3 qualification
and high salaries requirements to earn sufficient PBS points to
bring in workers to remedy the acute labour shortage. CICC made
strong representation to the MAC to put the case of occupations
in Chinese catering are skilled, has severe labour shortage, the
vacancies cannot be filled by a British or EEA worker, and that
it is sensible to fill the vacancies by migrants from outside
EEA.
AUTHENTICITY
19. Section 5(2)(c) of the Race Relation Act 1976 provides
that being of a particular racial group is a genuine occupational
qualification for the job if:
19.1 "The job involves working in a place where food
or drink is (for payment of not) provided to and consumed by members
of the public or a section of the public in a particular setting
for which, in that job, a person of that racial group is required
for reasons of authenticity".
20. Authenticity was identified by Chinese takeaway and
restaurant owners in CICC's study as an essential element for
their businesses to remain competitive by offering customers a
genuine "Chinese" experience in terms of both the Chinese
cuisines and the service provided by Chinese staff.
21. CICC urges the government to recognise authenticity
is an important factor in the recruitment of labour to Chinese
catering, which makes EEA nationals not suitable to most occupations
in British Chinese catering industry.
ENGLISH LANGUAGE
22. Chinese kitchen requires knowledge, experience, techniques
and skills in Chinese cooking; and knowledge and understanding
of the food cultures and culinary traditions in Chinese cooking.
There is little or no requirement in command of English language
to cook Chinese food. The kitchens in the British Chinese catering
are traditionally organising and operating in a Chinese language
environment.
23. CICC understands that the English requirement under the
Points Based System is to encourage integration, and to break
isolation between communities; and to avoid the situation of parallel
communities from arising. However, English requirement for Chinese
catering kitchen occupations prior to enter to UK may risks causing
barriers to recruit good skilled Chinese chefs to fill Chinese
chef positions even if the occupations are included in the Shortage
Occupations List.
24. CICC proposes that a in-country compulsory English
classes for migrants, provided by employer, after entry is a more
effective way to fulfil the government objectives on English requirements.
SPONSOR
25. Potential skilled migrants require a Certificate
of Sponsor from the employer to apply for Entry Clearance, or
Leave to Remain. The employer has to apply to join the register
of sponsors in order to obtain Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS).
The employer can then use the CoS to sponsor individual migrants
under PBS Tier 2 come to UK to work.
26. Sponsors have a lot of duties: allocation of CoS, compliance
and enforcement of sponsor duties, managing the Sponsor's Account,
updating and maintaining the Sponsor Management System software
etc. The consequence of non-compliance could range from Down-graded
on the PBS Sponsorship; served with on the spot fine if found
employing illegal immigrant through negligence; termination of
Sponsor License; prosecution for knowing employing an illegal
immigrant; and prosecution for facilitation or trafficking. The
sponsor duties is putting serious burden on small businesses both
in terms of responsibilities and cost.
27. CICC's research found that 88% of British Chinese
catering outlets are business employing up to 10 people, and that
79% of British Chinese catering outlets have weekly turnover of
under £8,000; 53% have weekly turnover less than £4,000.
This means that more than three quarter of British Chinese catering
businesses are micro businesses employing up to ten people and
of annual turnover of £400,000.
28. The vast majority of British Chinese catering businesses
have very little or no office administration and do not need or
use computer in the running of their business. The complicated
immigration system couple with the admin and compliance duties
as a sponsor, and the onerous monitoring and reporting duties
will mean that employers in Chinese catering will have to appoint
expensive external representatives to operate or comply with the
duties. The risks, the duties and the cost are burden that British
Chinese catering micro business may find difficult to meet.
IMPLEMENTATION OF
THE POINTS
BASED SYSTEM
29. In the Home Office publication "A Points-Based
System:Making Migration Work for Britain" in March
2005, it said some of the benefits the government seeks to deliver
from the Points Based System are:29.1 "Identifying,
attracting and retaining those who will increase the skills and
knowledge-base of the UK;
29.2 Enabling employers to fill short-term gaps in the labour
market; and
29.3 Contributing to the UK economy".
30. It is with regret to note from the UKBA "Impact
Assessment of Tier 2 of the PBS for Immigrant" that the Government
paid no attention to the potential adverse impact to the ethnic
catering businesses, thus no provision had been made to mitigate
the adverse impact it caused.
31. There had not been sufficient research to identify
the scale of the illegal working in ethnic catering, thus unable
to assess the potential severe adverse impacts of the "Stop
Illegal Working Campaign" as part of the run up in the implementation
of PBS Tier 2. This resulting in:
31.1 large scale loss of skills and knowledge base of the
UK Chinese and ethnic catering;
31.2 an immediate acute labour shortage in British Chinese
catering which do not have local supply of the skills and knowledge
for the industry;
31.3 this happened before Tier 2 is in place to enable the
employers to bring in fresh skilled and experienced workers to
fill the positions vacated by the dismissal of illegal workers;
31.4 many Chinese catering outlets closed down or reduction
in operation and output to stay within the law. Some businesses
have substantial loan may face bankruptcy, financial ruin, or
taking the risk to trade with illegal workers. Many families and
businesses will loss their livelihood and unable to make contribution
to the UK economy.
32. CICC is of the opinions that the implementation of
the Points Based System has created the opposite outcome from
the government's intended objectives, and that it had undermined
the potential benefits that the Points Based System might bring
about in the long term.
33. There is a real danger of a meltdown in Chinese catering
industry, a collapse in British Chinese catering industry UK will
have negative impact on the mainstream catering and tourist industry,
and have serious knock on effect on the well being of Chinese
community. Businesses and families who have lost their livelihood
will have to rely on state benefits instead of making a position
contribution to the economy.
34. Before it is too late, now is the time to take positive
steps to halt the damages and reverse the collapse of the British
Chinese catering industry and allow the Chinese to make a living.
Urgent actions is needed to take so that Chinese catering do not
have to employ illegal workers out of desperation risking prosecution
and/or loss of livelihood for hard working families up and down
the country
RECOMMENDATION
35. CICC recommends the following programme as a transition
to the full implementation of the PBS:
35.1 To grant temporary eligibility to work to Chinese asylum
seekers and failed asylum seekers awaiting removal, this is an
immediate short term solution that will will alleviate the immediate
staff shortage in British Chinese catering;
35.2 To include Chinese catering occupation onto the Shortage
Occupation List to enable Chinese catering to recruit from overseas.
This will be the medium solution to find suitable skill workers
to replace illegal workers eventually removed;
35.3 To work with the Chinese catering community to invest
in training and education to up-skill local workforce to enable
a healthy supply of chef and front house staff to Chinese catering.
July 2008
| 
