Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 35
37th Report - Immigration: Skilled worker visas
Published 4 Jul 2025
Addressed to HM Treasury
Public Accounts Committee Immigration: Skilled worker visas All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
We asked the Home Office why the proportion of ‘complex’ cases increased during periods when it received large numbers of visa applications.98 Between the end of 2021 and 2024, it has marked 18% of applications (330,000 cases) as ‘complex’, but this increased to 31% between July and September 2023, which is the period when applications peaked.99 The Home Office told us this was due to it applying more scrutiny 92 Q 72 93 C&AG’s Report, footnote 15 94 Q 73 95 Qq 74, 76; C&AG’s Report, para 3.2 96 Qq 74, 78 97 C&AG’s Report, para 3.3 98 Q 75 99 C&AG’s Report, para 3.3, fig. 7 23 to applications, which required more information from applicants. It said it was not “gaming” its published performance statistics by marking cases as ‘complex’ when they were not.100
From: Public Accounts Committee, 37th Report - Immigration: Skilled worker visas (HC 819), 4 July 2025
Government response
Latest Treasury Minutes progress report to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Thirty-seventh Report of Session 2024-26
The government responded to the whole report on 4 June 2026 (deadline 4 September 2025).
Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Thirty-seventh report from Session 2024-26
Published 15 October 2025.
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government agrees with the Committee's recommendations on labour market evidence, evaluation, care workers, exploitation and compliance, but disagrees with the recommendation on customer service.
- On sector workforce analysis, it agrees that other departments should provide more rigorous analysis, with a target implementation date of July 2026, and says the Labour Market Evidence Group "will further strengthen collaboration" between the Home Office and departments leading on labour market and skills.
- It agrees to set out its evaluation of the Skilled Worker route, with a target date of October 2025, stating that the evaluation was published alongside the Immigration White Paper on 12 May.
- On exploitation, it agrees with the recommendation (target date April 2027) and says an update to the Committee is planned for April 2027, "one year after its creation" of the Fair Work Agency.
- It disagrees with the customer service recommendation, stating the Home Office "is committed to continuous improvement in customer service standards" and that it monitors key indicators.