CBI issues warning on new PBS

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has issued a word of caution relating to the impact of the new points based system (PBS) for immigration.

According to the CBI, while larger organisations will probably benefit from the new system, smaller companies may find the new rules challenging.

Neil Carberry, the CBI's senior policy advisor, believes that smaller firms - with smaller provisions for human resources (HR) - may be negatively affected by the increase in responsibility and fees linked with the new procedures.

"[PBS] provides a flexible way to manage migration, but it is important that small firms are not priced out," said Mr Carberry.

"For larger firms the PBS is likely to be a successful innovation, but for smaller firms with less HR capacity, the higher fees and higher responsibilities will be a challenge."

Operated on a not-for-profit basis, the CBI has a number of offices, in locations such as Washington DC and Beijing.