Temporary Shortage List review: stage 2
Call for evidence description
Background
In July 2025 the Home Secretary commissioned the MAC to review the Temporary Shortage List (TSL).
We have approached this in 2 stages.
In stage 1, published in October 2025, the MAC identified the occupations eligible for inclusion on the TSL because they are potentially crucial to the delivery of the Industrial Strategy or building critical infrastructure.
Stage 2 runs from the launch of this call for evidence until July 2026.
The MAC is seeking further evidence on the occupations that passed stage 1 to identify which of these occupations we recommend adding to the TSL.
You should only provide information in the call for evidence on the occupations which passed stage 1, as listed below. Evidence provided on occupations which are not in scope of stage 2 will not be considered.
As outlined in the commissioning letter, for occupations to be placed onto the TSL, there must be an ambitious workforce strategy (henceforth referred to as a ‘jobs plan’) in place which aims to maximise the use of the UK workforce. It must include a skills strategy, a plan to work with the Department for Work and Pensions on a domestic labour strategy, and steps to manage the risk of exploitation, particularly of migrant workers.
This call for evidence is a key component of stage 2 decision making, presenting us with detailed evidence of the nature of shortages and the ongoing work within the relevant sectors to close these shortages. This evidence will supplement the in-house analysis our team are conducting in parallel.
How to respond
Our call for evidence process is split across 2 questionnaires. One for the government organisations submitting jobs plans, and one for representative bodies.
We recognise that government departments alone cannot deliver these plans and the support of employers and sector organisations will be key to their development. If you have not yet been involved in the development of jobs plans but feel you should be, please contact the relevant representative as listed in the attachment below.
We would encourage anybody wishing to engage to support jobs plans to do so as early as possible to give sector teams time to absorb the information into the plans.
For a full list of occupations and their relevant sectors, please see the attachment below.
Some sectors are welcoming evidence submissions to support their jobs plans and can be contacted using the email addresses in the attached mapping document. If there is not an email provided, contact the MAC at tslsubmissions@mac.gov.uk and we will forward information.
For representative bodies who wish to submit further evidence that sits outside of the core jobs plans, please submit using our online form.
Responses should be submitted before the closing date of 2 February 2026.
What occupations can I submit evidence on?
Evidence should only be submitted on occupations that were identified during stage 1 of our review as being potentially crucial to the delivery of the Industrial Strategy or building critical infrastructure.
We will not consider any evidence submitted on other occupations including those at RQF1-2 or RQF6+. For a full list of these please see Annex A of our stage 1 report.
For a full list of the occupations we will consider evidence on, please see the occupation mapping document.
How will my information be used?
As part of this review the MAC will be working with the Labour Market Evidence Group (LMEG) to collect and analyse data, including the sharing of information from the call for evidence. LMEG is comprised of the Industrial Strategy Advisory Council, the Department for Work and Pensions, Skills England and equivalent organisations in the devolved governments, and the MAC.
For further information on how we use your personal data as part of this process, please read our privacy notice for consultations and calls for evidence.
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