Temporary Shortage List: Key points to note from the MAC’s stage 1 review

Earlier this month, the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) published the first stage of its review of the Temporary Shortage List (TSL).

What is the Temporary Shortage List?

The TSL was introduced back in July this year as part of the significant changes made by the Home Office to the Skilled Worker route. The TSL will replace the current Immigration Salary List (ISL) and contains occupations at RQF levels 3 to 5 which are "crucial to the delivery of Industrial Strategy and critical infrastructure". Occupations will only remain on the TSL for a time-limited period. The roles currently on the TSL are due to expire on 31 December 2026, although there is discretion for the Home Office to remove them prior to this date.

Key points from the MAC's review

The MAC has been commissioned to complete a 12-month review of the TSL and has now completed the first stage of its review. The MAC's key recommendations from stage one are as follows:

• Length of time on TSL: occupations should ordinarily be on the TSL for three years. However, where the sector Job Plan requires further evidence and/or an improved strategy, it may only be included on the TSL for an initial 18-month period.
  
  The intention is that the MAC will complete a full review of the TSL every three years to decide whether an occupation should remain on the list or be removed, or whether any additional occupations should be added. However, the MAC may also conduct interim reviews.
  
  
• Visa length: visas for those in a TSL occupation should usually be for three to five years. The government has not yet confirmed whether the TSL will be a route to settlement. However, the MAC has recommended that if not, extensions should not be permitted.

• Salaries and discounts: any occupation-specific salaries should be at least as high as the general Skilled Worker route, which was increased in July 2025 to £41,700 per year. There will be no salary discounts for roles on the TSL, including no new entrant discount. As such, many jobs may not be eligible, even if the occupation is on the TSL, given the high salary requirement.

• English language requirement: the English language requirement should be at least B1. This reflects the current requirement under the Skilled Worker visa, although from 8 January 2026, the English language requirement is increasing to at least level B2.

• Switching: the MAC encourages progression and switching into RQF 6 roles. However, we expect that the Home Office will be carefully reviewing any switches to ensure that the sponsored migrant's role has genuinely changed and reflects the RQF 6 role they are switching into (especially if extensions will not be permitted).

• Crucial occupations: the MAC has identified 82 potentially crucial occupations which may be included on the TSL, subject to the stage two review, a full list of which can be found in Chapter 2 of the MAC's report here. The report records that of the 82 occupations, 45 are on the current TSL, six on the ISL, and five are on both. As part of its stage two review, the MAC has launched a call for evidence about which of these occupations should be included on the TSL and we would encourage sponsors to contact their representative bodies with any evidence they would like to put forward. The closing date is 2 February 2026. The Committee have expressly noted that they anticipate recommending a shorter list than the 82 being taken forward.

The government has already confirmed that individuals sponsored under the TSL will not be able to bring dependents, so the MAC has not made any recommendations on this point. The MAC have also steered away from recommending a numerical cap or nation-specific TSL's.

Other recommendations

The MAC has suggested that the Home Office continues to explore alternative sponsorship models, particularly in sectors which have a high number of small employers or where there is a risk of exploitation of workers. For example, as in the Seasonal Worker route, a registered "scheme operator" may act as a broker between an employer and a sponsored worker.

Final points to note for sponsors

As the MAC's review is due to run until summer next year, it is unlikely that sponsors will have much clarity on how the TSL will operate in practice until the end of 2026. It remains to be seen how useful the TSL will be for employers, particularly given the high salary threshold which we anticipate will exclude a number of roles from sponsorship, unless the stage 2 review recommends otherwise.