Farm sector welcomes recommendations for seasonal workers scheme | News

Food sector authorities have welcomed the findings of the Migration Advisory Committee’s review of the Seasonal Workers Scheme.

The review, published this week, found there was a clear need for a seasonal workers scheme in the short and medium term as it would provide “certainty for businesses operating in a sector that is highly dependent on migrant workers”.

The committee made five recommendations regarding the scheme, including that the Government provide greater certainty about its future and that employers and businesses be given five years’ notice of its intention to close the scheme.

The review also recommended increasing visa flexibility so that employers can plan their activities more effectively and employees can maximise their earnings.

This could be achieved by reducing the current waiting period from six to three months and allowing employees to work any six-month period in a given calendar year.

“We are pleased to see that the MAC recognises the critical importance of SWS to national food security in the face of global instability and climate change,” said NFU president Tom Bradshaw.

“It is particularly pleasing that the review reinforces the NFU’s call for the Government to provide certainty over the future of the scheme, enabling food businesses to plan ahead,” he added. “This was alongside a number of other recommendations that were in line with demands the NFU has campaigned for over a number of years.”

The MAC found that the lack of data on the wages of visa holders made effective monitoring very difficult. The committee recommended that seasonal workers be guaranteed at least two months’ wages to cover costs and reduce the risks that low-income workers have to take.

It also called for the process of refunding pension contributions to employees to be made more transparent and simpler.

The commission found that there was an “inherent imbalance of power” between employers and employees.

“It is positive that many employers are taking significant steps to improve the living conditions of people travelling this route, but there are a handful that are not,” the commission said.

Issues of unofficial agents collecting payments abroad and workers who incurred large debts in order to come to the country were also raised.

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The MAC recommended a more coordinated approach between the bodies currently involved in employee well-being and a clearer delineation of each body’s responsibilities. It also stated that workers’ rights must be clearly communicated in the worker’s language.

“Worker wellbeing is a top priority for our members,” Bradshaw said. “We continue to work with all parts of the supply chain to ensure skilled people who travel to the UK to help produce food for the country have a positive experience.”

He added that the government had committed to establishing a single law enforcement body and said that the trade union counted on its cooperation in this regard.

“This industry is already highly regulated and controlled, so it is important to reduce the level of duplication,” he said.

The committee’s final recommendation was to consider the ’employer pays’ principle, as seasonal workers currently bear the costs of both their visa and travel to and from the UK.

It said research was needed to examine how these costs could be distributed more fairly across the supply chain.

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The recommendation follows a recent change to SMETA’s audit in line with the Supplier Ethical Data Exchange (Sedex) industry standard, which will require agricultural and livestock businesses to bear the costs of recruiting and transporting seasonal workers employed on an “employer pays” basis.

The change, which was due to come into effect in September, was met with dissatisfaction from the NFU, which said it was a “matter of consistency and fairness” because standards were “clearly unachievable”.

It is estimated that changing the Sedex system will cost the industry an extra £90m a year.

“MAC has made recommendations, including on the employer pay rule and length of employment, which we need to look at in more detail to see how they will impact the range of farming and development businesses we represent,” Bradshaw said.

“As the review highlights, certainty is key to the success of the scheme for UK farmers, growers, workers and consumers,” he added, calling on the new government to commit to a five-year programme.

“Certainty is the currency of business and this commitment would help restore some of the lost confidence of British farmers and growers.”