The number of workers permitted to travel to the UK to pick and package fruit and vegetables will be increased for next year s harvest, the government has announced.
The Seasonal Workers Pilot, launched in 2019, has been extended and expanded for an additional year, with 30,000 visas available for migrant workers to work on UK farms for a period of up to six months.
The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) said the expansion of the scheme follows a long period of discussions with the National Farmers Union (NFU) and the Association of Labour Providers (ALP). There was particular recognition of the need for additional seasonal labour in Scotland to support local rural economies and the renowned soft fruit growers, it added.
A new report by MPs has warned that food prices could rise unless the government changes its approach to its post-Brexit UK immigration system. According to an Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee (EFRA) inquiry into labour in the food supply chain ‘getting food businesses to move away from migrant workers will take time.’
The cross-party group of MPs has instead suggested a more transitional shift away from migrant labour rather than a hard stop when freedom of movement rights between Europe and the UK officially end on 1 January, 2021.
The group has called on the government to be flexible in its approach to its post-Brexit UK immigration system in case its existing policy has an adverse effect on food businesses or food security. The MPs also urged the government to add job roles, such as veterinarians, to the Skilled Worker Shortage Occupation List.
Seasonal workers from Romania harvesting a crop at a farm in Rothwell, near Leeds, last August. Photograph: Gary Calton/The Observer
The government is to allow farmers to bring in 30,000 seasonal workers from overseas in 2021 – three times more than this year – to help pick and pack fruit and vegetables.
The extension of the seasonal agricultural workers’ scheme, which will apply to EU and non-EU workers after the end of freedom of movement from Europe in January, comes after a difficult harvest in 2020 during which farmers feared fruit and vegetables would rot in the fields as they struggled to attract enough workers.
Up to 30,000 workers to help reap 2021 harvest
Measures announced to support farmers and growers next year, including an extended and expanded Seasonal Workers Pilot
From:
22 December 2020
The number of workers permitted to travel to the UK to pick and package fruit and vegetables will be increased for next year’s harvest, the government has announced today (22 December).
The Seasonal Workers Pilot, originally launched in 2019, has been extended and expanded for an additional year with 30,000 visas available for those wanting to come and work on UK farms for a period of up to six months. The workers will play a vital role in helping horticulture growers pick and package their produce in 2021, whilst reducing their reliance on migrant labour as we exit the EU.
Photo: Joe Giddens/PA Wire The number of workers permitted to travel to the UK to pick and package fruit and vegetables will be increased for next year’s harvest. The Government announced yesterday that The Seasonal Workers Pilot, originally launched in 2019, had been extended and expanded for an additional year with 30,000 visas available for those wanting to work on UK farms for up to six months. The expansion of the scheme follows a long period of close working with the National Farmers Unions and the Association of Labour Providers, across all parts of the UK. Environment Secretary George Eustice said: We will always back our farmers and growers, who work hard all year round to provide us with a secure supply of fruit and vegetables.