The Apprentice final: skills shortages within the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) sector

Thursday 17 April 2025 saw Dean Franklin announced as the winner of The Apprentice, resulting in a life-changing investment of £250,000 from Lord Sugar. Dean runs a business which installs air conditioning units, ADL Air Conditioning Ltd, and he’s hoping to expand his operations with Lord Sugar’s investment.

During the final, industry expert Mark Dyer of Daikin Airconditioning UK Ltd, reminded Dean that there is a general skills shortage within the HVAC sector, and asked Dean how he’d recruit. Could international recruitment via the Skilled Worker immigration route assist Dean with his expansion by enabling him to recruit international workers who require sponsorship?

Skilled Workers can only be sponsored in roles that are suitable for sponsorship. These must be sufficiently skilled and must either be referenced on Appendix Skilled Occupations of the Immigration Rules or Appendix Immigration Salary List, which includes roles where the UK government accepts that a lower salary can be paid.

The following roles are all sufficiently skilled roles suitable for sponsorship under the Skilled Worker immigration route:

• Air Conditioning Engineer
• Air Conditioning Fitter
• Heating and Ventilating Engineer
• Plumber
• Plumbing and Heating Engineers

In order to sponsor any of the above workers, the worker’s salary must comply with strict requirements under Immigration Rules. This will involve the salary complying with the general salary threshold and the relevant going rate which varies depending on the role being sponsored.

For example, if Dean wanted to sponsor an Air Conditioning Fitter as a Skilled Worker, we’d likely be looking at sponsorship under Standard Occupation Code 5225. For an individual that doesn’t benefit from any new entrant reductions, this Code has a going rate of £39,800 per annum/£20.41 per hour; this exceeds the general salary threshold of £38,700, so the minimum salary payable would be £39,800 per annum/£20.41 per hour. If the worker was expected to work less than 37.5 hours per week, the £39,800/£20.41 going rate can be pro-rated, but the general salary threshold of £38,700 would still need to be paid.

If the worker was under the age of 26 and qualified as a new entrant, the going rate would reduce to £30,960 per annum/£15.88 per hour, with the general salary threshold also being £30,960.

Of course, to sponsor any workers, Dean’s company would need to hold a sponsor licence. To secure a sponsor licence, ADL Air Conditioning Ltd would need to demonstrate that they have various HR systems in place to enable them to monitor overseas workers and comply with sponsor licence compliance duties. Holding a sponsor licence would also require the organisation to comply with employment law and they must also follow compliant right to work procedures.

Daikin Airconditioning UK Limited is part of a wider international organisation; they already hold a Skilled Worker sponsor licence, along with a Global Business Mobility: Senior or Specialist Worker and Graduate Trainee licence, enabling the organisation to transfer staff from offices overseas to the UK. It seems that they have, therefore, at least considered sponsorship in order to address UK skills shortages in the HVAC sector.

Dean’s company is currently only registered in the UK, so would be looking at a Skilled Worker sponsor licence initially. However, if the organisation grows internationally, ADL Air Conditioning Ltd could certainly look at how the Global Business Mobility routes could assist with the transfer of existing international labour to the UK.