Pilot worker scheme 'not enough' for UK egg industry

The egg industry is seeing a shortage of migrant workers
The egg industry is seeing a shortage of migrant workers

A trial post-Brexit agricultural workers scheme will not be enough for the UK egg industry, the British Egg Industry Council has said.

The Home Office and Defra has published details of a seasonal labour scheme for foreign workers following warnings from the farming industry that overseas labour was vital to the UK food sector.

However, the Government plan will limit migrant employment to just part of a year and it will cap the number of overseas workers allowed in each year.

The horticultural sector has already highlighted how the pilot scheme is "simply not enough" to dampen growers' fears over lack of labour.

And now the egg industry has joined the growing chorus of criticism, with the British Egg Industry Council (BEIC) calling the plan unsuitable.

"The egg industry needs labour all year round on farms and in packing centres. Therefore, we will continue to lobby for a scheme that can provide this," said Mark Williams, chief executive of BEIC.

'Remain productive'

The Government pilot scheme is aimed particularly at the country's horticultural sector. In a statement announcing the plan, it said that the pilot would mean that fruit and vegetable farmers would be able to employ migrant workers for seasonal work for up to six months.

It said 2,500 workers from outside the EU would be able to come to the UK each year, alleviating labour shortages during peak production periods.

Home Secretary Sajid Javid was quoted as saying: "British farmers are vital to the UK’s economy – and the Government will look to support them in any way we can.

"This pilot will ensure farmers have access to the seasonal labour they need to remain productive and profitable during busy times of the year.

"I am committed to having an immigration system that reduces migration to sustainable levels, supports all industry and ensures we welcome those who benefit Britain."

The Government also issued a quote from Defra Secretary Michael Gove. He said: "We have listened to the powerful arguments from farmers about the need for seasonal labour to keep the horticulture industry productive and profitable.

"From lettuce in East Anglia to strawberries in Scotland, we want to make sure that farmers can continue to grow, sell and export more great British food.

"This two-year pilot will ease the workforce pressures faced by farmers during busy times of the year. We will review the pilot’s results as we look at how best to support the longer-term needs of industry outside the EU."

Ali Capper chairman of the NFU horticulture and potatoes board, welcomed the Government announcement but she indicated that the politicians needed to go further.

"We don’t have the full details just yet, but we know it will consist of just 2,500 placements for six months at a time, and it will run for two years and be managed by two labour providers," she said.

"It’s by no means the complete answer to our current labour shortages but is certainly an important step in the right direction."

Ms Capper added: "Going forward, this pilot must lead to a full scheme that enables us to plug any shortfall in workers. We will continue to work with government and provide the evidence of the sector’s labour shortages and keep the pressure on for a comprehensive scheme once the pilot concludes."

'Business critical'

Mark Williams has been warning for some time about the scale of the problem facing the UK egg industry if it loses its current level of access to foreign labour.

At the annual Egg and Poultry Industry Conference in November, he said that EU migrants currently accounted up to 60 per cent of people employed in UK packing centres and as much as 40 per cent of those employed on farms.

Availability of labour was vital to the industry, he said, but EU workers were already heading home following the referendum.

The industry was trying to promote careers in the egg industry, but he said some British people were not necessarily keen on the hard work involved in the agricultural industry.

Mr Williams said that, following the referendum, the BEIC had conducted a survey, which showed that between 55 and 60 per cent of those working in packing centres were from other EU countries.

Between 35 and 40 per cent of those working on farms were from other EU countries. "Continued access to labour is of vital importance to all of you sitting in this room no matter what type of business you are involved in," he said.

At the same conference, the NFU's chief poultry adviser, Gary Ford, said: "We all know that labour is business critical to the poultry sector. We as an industry have been doing a lot of work with the Migration Advisory Committee, which recently called for evidence," he said.

"We have, as part of our submission, put a number of case studies in there. We can all talk about the importance of access to labour but it really does help illustrate the point when we put specific case studies in."

One case study, he said, was a medium sized poultry meat processor employing 240 staff. He said that 80 per cent of those workers were non-UK labourers. "When you start to talk about numbers and give examples it really does help to drive our argument," said Gary.

The Government pilot scheme will begin in the spring of 2019 and will run until the end of December 2020.