The current Government was elected on a manifesto that included a commitment to reduce immigration. Policies to prevent immigration have been tightened since then. The Government’s aim is to strengthen domestic skills and manage net migration. Unfortunately, this policy is damaging the prospects of many business areas, including the landscape sector.

The logic behind the UK strategy is somewhat incoherent. Its overarching objective is focused directly on economic growth to benefit the UK – and the landscape sector wants to help in that respect. And yet the government is enacting a policy that does the opposite in the short to mid-term, cutting jobs and stifling business growth. This is an issue driven by political expediency rather than objective economic analysis.

This policy tightening presents immediate challenges for landscape practices and forces non-UK domestic practitioners to seek employment in other countries, more welcoming of their skills. Several restrictive measures have converged to tighten the gateway for overseas talent. These changes include significantly higher salary thresholds for Skilled Worker visas, the removal of landscape architects from the Immigration Salary List (ISL), and tighter restrictions that will come in force on the graduate visa route.

The Workforce Gap and Policy Impact

The landscape profession has historically relied on a blend of domestic and international expertise to meet its delivery needs. There simply hasn’t been a wide enough pipeline of UK landscape practitioners available. However, the current trajectory of immigration reform risks widening the existing skills gap. Landscape practices are telling us that the policy changes that stop them employing or retaining staff are damaging their own future viability.

The reclassification of landscape architects is of particular concern. By removing the profession from the ISL, the government removed the ‘shortage’ buffer that previously allowed practices to recruit internationally at accessible salary levels. For many small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs), which form the backbone of the UK landscape sector, the increased costs of sponsorship (including a 32% hike in the Immigration Skills Charge to £1,320 for medium-sized sponsors) and the higher salary thresholds (currently a minimum of £47,600 per annum) has made international recruitment and retention financially unfeasible. Typical UK-wide salaries for a Graduate/Junior Landscape Architect range between £26,000 and £30,000, well below the threshold.

Outlook for International Practitioners

For recent graduates and early-career practitioners from overseas, the outlook is likewise increasingly constrained. The graduate visa route, which once provided a two-year window to transition into the UK workforce and progress toward Chartership, is being reduced to 18 months (for applications made on or after 1 January 2027).

Our Call for a Nuanced Approach

At the Landscape Institute we continue to advocate for an evidence-led approach to immigration. To maintain a resilient profession, we have put forward several recommendations to government, working with other Professional Institutes from the built environment sector, who face the same challenges:

• Salary Threshold Adjustment: Lower thresholds for recent entrants from overseas to reflect market starting salaries.
• Shortage Status Re-evaluation: Reinstate the landscape profession on the Temporary Shortage List to allow businesses to fill critical gaps while domestic training pipelines mature.
• Graduate Route Stability: Protect the viability of the two-year graduate visa to allow international talent time to gain experience and contribute to UK projects.
• SOC Code Reclassification: Distinguish landscape architecture (SOC 2451) from general architecture to reflect its particular shortage issues more accurately.

In the absence of such policy shifts, the ability of UK practices to compete effectively in the long-term will be greatly reduced.

What the Landscape Institute has been doing

We have been consistently engaging with policymakers and professional bodies, advocating economic growth solutions:

• Evidence submissions: We have submitted written evidence on immigration and salary thresholds to Parliamentary calls for evidence and the media, highlighting the critical role of landscape in national growth.
• Sector collaboration: We are active members of built environment groups highlighting the unnecessary economic problems this policy has created.
• Domestic pipeline strengthening: We have proactively expanded employer-led projects for the 16-19 sector and are collaborating with UCAS to raise awareness of the profession amongst students, parents, teachers and careers advisors. We are working to bolster domestic recruitment, but this initiative will clearly take some years to bear fruit at all levels and sector-wide.

The government has set itself tough strategic targets on housebuilding, infrastructure and climate change and, as a sector, we want to play our part in delivering these outputs. However, restraining employment opportunities in key sectors is not the way forward. Ministers need to realise their actions are damaging their own ability to meet their all-important goals.

Guidance

There is guidance on skilled worker visa rules on the gov.uk website.  It’s important for practices to seek appropriate professional advice specific to their needs.

• Guidance on the UK Skilled Worker visa can be found at https://www.gov.uk/skilled-worker-visa
• Guidance on the reduced salary threshold for landscape professionals who are working towards Chartered status can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/skilled-worker-visa-eligible-salary-if-youre-under-26-studying-training-or-in-a-postdoctoral-role

Look out for the ‘Education & Skills’ edition of the LI Journal coming shortly, where we’ll be covering this issue in more detail.