Asian Catering Federation: Earned Settlement Rules and the Curry Community
Asian catering-sector response on RQF6, five-year settlement expectations, chef recruitment and retrospective change.
Summary
The Asian Catering Federation's 11 December 2025 press release warns that the proposed Earned Settlement rules could leave Asian chefs, skilled restaurant workers and business owners facing prolonged insecurity and financial pressure.
It objects to moving existing five-year expectations to ten years, or fifteen years for roles below RQF6, and says experience-based chefs and managers may be penalised because their expertise is not captured by degree-level classification.
The release describes sector-specific concern: Asian food businesses rely on specialist chefs, and the federation says the sector employs more than 100,000 people and contributes more than seven and a half billion pounds annually to the UK economy. It asks government to avoid retrospective changes for current ILR applicants, avoid a fifteen-year penalty for chefs and managers below RQF6, honour the five-year pathway for workers who complied with existing rules, and engage with the federation's network.
Why this matters for the archive
This record is important because it adds a hospitality and ethnic-business perspective to the institutional response set. It shows how RQF6 classification and retrospective settlement change can be understood as threats to specialist skills, community businesses and worker security.
Key Observations
- The release asks for no retrospective changes to current ILR applications.
- It objects to a fifteen-year route for skilled chefs and managers below RQF6.
- It says the Asian food sector employs more than 100,000 people and contributes more than GBP7.5 billion annually.
- It asks the Home Office to engage with the federation and reflect the reality of the hospitality sector.