The Shortage Occupation List and Scotland
About the Shortage Occupation (SOL)
The UK’s SOL contains a list of jobs that are in endemic shortage in the labour market. Where a
job is included on the SOL an employer can sponsor a non-EU worker in Tier 2 without first
advertising the vacancy, saving 28 days. Jobs are also given more weight in the Home Office’s
monthly allocation of Certificates of Sponsorship, so if the monthly cap is met, it is likely the
Certificate of Sponsorship will still be granted if it is for a shortage occupation role.
The SOL is compiled by the independent Migration Advisory Committee (MAC). MAC take into
account numbers of vacancies, growth and demand, alternatives to migrant labour and
expenditure on training and recruitment before recommending a list to government.
The main SOL contains jobs that are in shortage across the UK labour market. Most of the jobs
are in health or engineering. The full SOL is help in Appendix K of the Immigration Rules.
The Scottish SOL
The UK wide SOL is supplemented by a separate shortage list for Scotland in Table 2 of Appendix
K. Employers in Scotland can sponsor workers to fill vacancies in these occupations without first
advertising the role and also receive extra weight through the Tier 2 limit process.
Scottish employers can also leverage the UK wide SOL.
Listed Occupations
Medical practitioners (Code 2211)
Only the following jobs in this occupation code:
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Jobs on the UK Shortage Occupation List
o Clinical radiology
o Emergency medicine
o Old age psychiatry
o CT3 Trainee and ST4 to ST7 trainee in emergency medicine
o Core trainee in psychiatry
Consultant in clinical oncology
Non-consultant, non-training, medical staff post in clinical radiology
CT3 Trainee and ST4 to ST7 trainee in clinical radiology
All grades except CPT1 in psychiatry
All grades in anaesthetics, paediatrics, obstetrics and gynaecology
Medical radiographers (Code 2217)
Only the following jobs in this occupation code:
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Jobs on the UK Shortage Occupation List
o HPC registered diagnostic radiographer
o Nuclear medicine practitioner
o Radiotherapy physics practitioner
o Radiotherapy physics scientist
o Sonographer
Medical physicist
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Staff working in diagnostics radiology (including magnetic resonance imaging)
Ian Robinson
Partner, Fragomen Worldwide
20 March 2017