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Polish business: Why our green fingers mean we're here to stay

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For Arleta Gorecka it was love at first when she arrived in Britain from Poland ten years ago.

Green fingered: Practical Pawel and Arleta Gorajek have their own garden and home design business

It wasn't meant to be. She had simply planned to stop off on a world tour.

But Arleta, now 34, who had a degree in agriculture, started a garden design business.

Shortly after she fell in love again - this time with Pawel Gorajek, now 27, who became her business partner and, in 2005, her husband.

They are now working hard to establish and expand their home improvement and garden design company in and around London.

Like about a third of the Poles who arrive in Britain, they are here for the long term. But the impoved Polish economy and strength of the zloty is luring back many who came to to earn money for their family back in Poland and others who came to improve their English and improve their skills.

Despite the recent outward flow, Poles are the single biggest foreign-born immigrant group - larger even than Indians - in the UK.

Research carried out for Financial Mail by NatWest reveals that 36% of Poles who arrive want to stay in the UK permanently with 41% thinking of buying a home here.

Though many of those arriving initially do jobs that may be below their skill level, those who stay for the longer term are moving into positions more suited to their skills, especially once their English has improved.

Since Poland joined the EU in 2004 and its citizens were allowed free access to the UK, there has been an enormous influx - typified by the stereotype of the Polish plumber.

However, recent figures from NatWest, underpinning a survey from the IPPR think-tank, suggest that a majority of Poles are going home within a few years and that those who stay here are wedded to Britain for the long term.

Interestingly, Poles are much more likely to set up home and business in far-flung, often unfashionable, parts of the UK, than other immigrant groups.

Last year, 89% of Poles working in Britain were earning less than £400 a week before tax compared with 57% of British-born workers, but those who stay and become more qualified and aspirational are moving up the salary scale.

And this is likely to increase with the number of higher education students from Poland rising by an astonishing 56% from 4,325 in 2005/06 to 6,770 in 2006/07. Polish students are now the sixth-biggest national group of EU students in Britain.

But the long-term stayers tend to be those Poles who have put down economic roots by setting up their own businesses.

'Clearly, those who are buying into the country, who have invested money as well as heart and soul, are much less likely to clear off if the zloty improves against the pound', says one financial adviser in the field.

There are already 40,000 Polish entrepreneurs who have set up businesses in the UK and this is set to rise. As their businesses grow and they employ more people, they are less likely to go back to Poland.

Those not staying for the long term are considering going home or elsewhere in Europe. This, added to research that claims fewer migrants are coming from Poland, may cause a reverse migration flow, which could cause severe financial problems for Britain. The 'Polish pound' is worth an estimated £4bn a year to the UK economy.

The rate of Poles returning home from Britain accelerated during 2007/2008 while the number planning to stay in Britain permanently dropped by 20% in 2007.

Britain may not be able to continue to rely on a ready supply of Polish workers willing to move around the country doing jobs that most British people are unable or unwilling to do, raising the threat of labour shortages.

The growth of cut-price airlines means Poles can come to Britain on a temporary or seasonal basis while those living in Britain visit home regularly.

Last year, there were 67 coaches a week running between London's Victoria Coach Station and several Polish destinations. That number is down to about 45 today because of the growing number of cut-price flights between Britain and Poland.

The pound has weakened significantly against the zloty and as the differences between potential earnings at home and in Britain narrows, potential Polish migrants are less likely to come to the UK.

At the same time the improving Polish economy is encouraging some Poles to return home. In December 2007, the Polish Confederation of Employers (KPP) estimated that the country's economy required 250,000 more qualified workers, a quarter of them for the construction sector.

These labour shortages have led to a sharp wage increase over the past year - average salaries in the private sector grew by 12.8% in the 12 months to last February.

More than 40% of Polish migrants who have returned home say their countrymen in Britain would be encouraged to move back if there were better employment prospects in Poland while 77% say Polish migrants in Britain would be tempted to return by better wages.

Two-thirds of the Poles who have returned home say they made the right decision.

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