Farm labour dealt further blow with new immigration laws

Government plans to increase the minimum earnings threshold for overseas workers by nearly 50% will add further difficulties to farm businesses already struggling to hire staff, industry leaders warn.

Home secretary James Cleverly announced plans on Monday 4 December to raise the minimum salary needed for skilled overseas workers from £26,200 to £38,700 from next spring.

The announcement is part of a package of new measures which aims to cut net migration to the UK by at least 300,000 and curb abuse of the immigration system.

See also: Farming snubbed in review of shortage occupation list

The NFU told Farmers Weekly it understood the new earnings threshold would not have a direct impact on the Seasonal Worker Scheme (SWS).

This allows up to 55,000 temporary workers to travel to the UK to work in horticulture for up to six months, picking fruit, vegetables or flowers. Temporary workers can also be recruited to the poultry sector under the same scheme from 2 October to 31 December in the same year.

Martin Emmett, chairman of the NFU’s Horticulture and Potatoes board, said: “We believe the Seasonal Worker Scheme is not going to be affected by this announcement as it does not impact net migration figures, but we await confirmation from the government.”

In addition to the new salary requirements, the government will end rules which allow companies to pay workers 20% less than the going rate for jobs on the Shortage Occupation List (SOL), and will replace this with a new Immigration Salary List.

Mr Emmett said the SOL did not include any occupations within the agriculture industry, adding that it was “plausible” to conclude that government plans to reduce the number of occupations on the list would effectively close this route to the industry in the future.

Wider implications

Besides horticulture, several other sectors that rely heavily on foreign workers, including dairy, pigs and arable, could be hit hard by the revised earnings threshold.

NFU Dairy board chairman Michael Oakes said: “The NFU has tried hard to get dairy workers on the Shortage Occupation List, but the government has rejected this.

“Raising the earnings threshold for overseas workers is going to have implications, not just for dairy but for many farming businesses.

“How can dairy farming businesses afford to pay workers £18/hour for a 40-hour week when there is a lack of margin in the dairy supply chain? This will be the last straw for some dairy farming businesses who already face considerable rises in the National Living Wage from next April.”

Tony Goodger, spokesman for the Association of Independent Meat Suppliers (Aims), said the £38,700 salary threshold would make recruiting vets and butchers from overseas even harder, which was “bound to increase further pressure on the supply chain”.