Defra continues to speak regularly with the agriculture sector and other Government departments to understand labour supply and demand, including both seasonal and permanent workforce requirements.
To reduce the risk of seasonal labour shortages in horticulture and the poultry sector, the Government announced last May that there would be 45,000 Seasonal Worker visas for the horticulture sector in 2024, with a further 2,000 for seasonal poultry workers in the autumn, ensuring these sectors can plan their workforce needs for the year ahead with confidence. This provides sufficient visas for growers to access all the workers they need, and if more visas are necessary within the year an additional 10,000 could be released.
The Skilled Worker route remains open to all nationals who wish to come to the UK for a skilled job they have been offered. We have broadened the skill and salary thresholds to include medium skilled jobs and the route now covers 60% of jobs in the economy. This strikes an appropriate balance between allowing employers access to the skills our economy needs and encouraging investment in the resident workforce. In addition, the agricultural sector can continue to draw on EU nationals living in the UK with settled or pre-settled status, and EU nationals who have settled status can continue to travel to the UK to work in the agriculture sector.
To help inform future decisions on labour, Defra commissioned John Shropshire to carry out an Independent Review into Labour Shortages in the Food Supply Chain, considering how automation, domestic labour and migrant labour could contribute to tackling labour shortages in our sectors. This report was published on 30 June 2023 and the Government response is expected to be published shortly.
At the same time as the response, the Government will set out how it will support the sector to access the labour it needs alongside actions to reduce the sector’s reliance on migrant labour including via our work on automation and promoting domestic labour procurement and training.
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