Farmers turn to Filipino workers to fill labour shortages

Livestock farmers struggling with labour shortages are increasingly turning to Filipino workers to resolve their recruitment problems.

Hiring workers from the Philippines has traditionally been difficult.

Visa fees and flights alone cost about £7,500, and the government does not allow candidates to pay for their own travel – unlike countries such as Nigeria and India.

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But Andrew Backhouse, from CAS recruitment, which brings Filipino workers to the UK, said Brexit and Covid had left many farmers looking for staff from different places.  

“We never touched the UK pre-Brexit because you had the eastern Europeans,” he said.

“Why would you pay for a visa when you have free movement of people? But then you had Brexit, and after Covid, everybody went home didn’t come back.

“There was just a huge gap. I speak to farmers every day and they say they’ve not had a holiday in three years.”

Mr Backhouse said his company, which originally recruited for food processors, had now placed about 500 Filipino workers on UK dairy, pig and poultry farms.

“A lot of them on the dairy side have New Zealand experience,” he said.

“Saudi Arabia is another big area for them. But Saudia Arabia and New Zealand kicked them all out with Covid and we’ve scooped them up before they opened the doors again.”

According to Mr Backhouse, word is spreading fast in the farming community about how good the workers are.

“I don’t ring any farmers up,” he said.

“All the farmers ring me to say their neighbours have resolved their recruitment problem because they’ve got some Filipinos over and they love them, and ask if I can help them.

“That’s how every conversation starts.”