Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reasons the minimum payment for overhead line workers on the shortage occupation list has been decreased in each subsequent review since November 2011.

The appropriate salary requirements for Tier 2 workers are determined by the Home Office and are benchmarked against prevailing earnings for individual occupations, drawing on available sources of earnings data including the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings. While the minimum salary requirement for overhead lines workers fell from £12.33 to £10.12 per hour between 2011 and 2012, the most recent changes to the Shortage Occupation List, effective from 6 April 2014, increased the annual earnings requirement for this occupation from £22,800 to £23,600 for experienced workers, and from £18,100 to £18,600 for new entrants. The Migration Advisory Committee has been asked by the Government to
consider the continued inclusion of overhead lines workers on the Shortage Occupation List, and issued a call for evidence on 29 September 2014.