“Why the UK seasonal labour worker scheme still isn’t working”

The Seasonal Worker scheme offers the UK’s growers access to 43,000 six-month visas. But the scheme is mired in controversy on every side

At last. After years of angst and uncertainty, a five-year Seasonal Worker Scheme (SWS) was announced by the Tory government in May this year, enabling the £5bn horticulture sector to grow the nation’s fruit & veg with confidence.

That was the theory, anyway…But the scheme has also been beset with issues: licences have been revoked; lawsuits are flying around; and ongoing human rights concerns have led to calls for higher pay – a prospect many growers view as ruinous not only to the scheme’s fortunes but the sector itself…

…there’s a political agenda in play here. The initial SWS was a pilot to tide growers over as the market adjusted to the post-Brexit decline in labour supply…

As well as a rolling agreement, some growers want visas to last nine months to stop them having to do multiple rounds of recruitment. Nick Marston, chairman of British Berry Growers, says that’s a “win-win”…

…there are concerns around exploitation without a third party present. Caroline Robinson, director of the NGO and helpline Worker Support Centre Scotland (WSCS), fears workers would be “stuck with that employer as their sponsor, and if there’s any problems, they’re too scared to raise issues”…

[Subscription required. Article also names seasonal worker scheme operators Agri-HR, Concordia, Fruitful Jobs, HOPS Labour Solutions, Pro-Force, and RE Recruitment; and Ethero, which had its license revoked in August].