Learner Resource 9

What have been the Social and Economic impacts of Migration into the UK?

Migration into the UK has been a hot topic of debate over several years, often with extreme arguments bring raised in the media. During this activity, you are going to look at a variety of impacts that migration has had on the UK and you will then be using this information to produce a letter outlining your views on the issue. This activity is in three parts:

1) Migration Facts

You will be given a range of facts relating to migration on an A4 sheet. You will need to decide whether these impacts are ‘mainly positive’, ‘mainly negative’ or ‘balanced’ (both positive and negative) to the UK.

2) Building your argument

The best way to build your argument is to ensure that you have clear and coherent facts that can be used to back up your point of view. It is also important to try to explain why the opposing argument is not as convincing as yours! You will need to use the worksheet to prioritise your arguments.

3) Write your letter

Once you have built your argument, aim to use this as a plan to write a letter to your MP/ local council / local newspaper explaining your viewpoint. If, at this stage, you can add in any local or national examples through your own research to further back up your point of view that would really help support your ideas.

Version 11© OCR 2016

People of the UK

Migration Facts

Migrants are most likely to be of working age which leads to an increase in the labour force and, therefore, increases the potential output of the economy. / The cost of translation of key services (police, councils, NHS) for UK residents who do not speak English fluently is in excess of £100 million a year.
Communities benefit from having a large number of ethnic groups within them. This can lead to a wide variety of social activities, religious groups and restaurants available to residents. / The more people working within the UK means the more people who are spending money in the UK which leads to an increasing economy.
Migration can have a positive effect on the dependency ratio. As migrants are usually of working age, this means that there are more people paying tax into the economy to counterbalance our naturally ageing population. / The UK is facing a housing shortage which is likely to get worse with increased numbers of migrants needing a place to live.
Attitudes towards migrant communities can be negative and reinforced in local media which can then lead to extremist or fundamentalist groups. / The Russell Group of universities suggest that foreign students contribute £2.5 billion in fees a year helping to finance higher education for domestic students.
Migration can add to flexibility within the workforce with jobs in shortage areas such as farming, building and medical professions filled by skilled immigrants. / Migrants are often working age men in the first instance. This can lead to a gender imbalance in some areas where jobs from migrants are readily available.
The cost of treating migrants on the NHS led to the imposition of a surcharge of £200 per year for health services to combat increased demand but the real cost is much higher. / Tensions between different ethnic or religious groups can create ghettos within cities. This can lead to violence and increase the cost of policing.

Building your arguments

In building your argument, you need to think about which facts you believe to be most important in backing up your viewpoint. Use the boxes below to help build your argument.

I think that migration has mainly positive / negative social and economic impacts for the UK

I think this is because…

There are different views here and you could argue that…

Strong finish – When you weigh up the evidence…

Concluding sentence 1…
Concluding sentence 2…

Version 11© OCR 2016

People of the UK