Britain's agriculture sector worries about hiring seasonal workers

Of the visas issued last year by the UK to seasonal workers, around 2/3 were issued to Ukrainian workers. The current situation in Ukraine will impact recruitment on British farms.

 

According to migration statistics from the Ministry of the Interior, in 2021 almost 20,000 seasonal worker visas were granted to Ukrainian nationals, or 67% of the total. Ukrainians were the 2nd nationality, after Indian nationality, among those who obtained a British work visa in 2021, almost exclusively due to the seasonal worker visa.

 

"For most of the last 15 years, the majority of migrant workers arriving in the UK have come from EU countries. Now the vast majority of them come from non-EU countries. The data show how much British farms have relied on Ukrainian workers in particular,” commented Madeleine Sumption, director of the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford.

 

But the situation in Ukraine raises fears of major disruptions in the flow of seasonal workers this year. Some recruitment agencies look to other countries like Mongolia, Tajikistan and the Philippines.

 

 

source : migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk, financial times com