Western Daily Press (Saturday)
End this food crisis Government urged
Food and farming organisations in call to ease workforce shortages:
BRITISH food and farming organisations yesterday came together to urge the Government to immediately create a 12-month Covid-19 Recovery Visa to help ease huge workforce shortages.
A report, compiled by Grant Thornton on behalf of Britain’s £120 billion food and drink sector, says the crisis is devastating supply chains and increasing the cost of getting food to the public.
A combination of factors has led to gaps on supermarket shelves and hit the supply chains of hospitality giants such as McDonalds, which has this week been hit by shortages of products such as milkshakes.
But food and farming bodies say the biggest factor is a lack of overseas workers who previously played a key role in logistics, processing, butchery and fruit picking.
It comes as a report in the Guardian yesterday said that there were 70,000 surplus pigs on UK farms that should already have been taken to be slaughtered but backlogs at abattoirs meant they remained on the farm.
That has a profound knock-on effect on farmers having to absorb the cost of continuing to feed the pigs and potentially see them growing to weights unattractive to processors and supermarkets.
The report highlights an average vacancy rate of 13% and estimates there are more than 500,000 vacancies across food and drink businesses, which together employ more than 4 million people.
It made three key recommendations to ministers to help the industry ease its workforce issues.
■ The introduction of a 12-month Covid-19 Recovery Visa which would enable all involved throughout the supply chain to recruit critical roles, such as HGV drivers, as a short-term response to labour shortages.
■ Commitment to a permanent, revised and expanded Seasonal Worker Scheme for UK horticulture.
■ An urgent review by the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) on the impact of ending free movement on the food & farming sector, in the same way it is doing for adult social care.
NFU vice president Tom Bradshaw said: “Farm businesses have done all they can to recruit staff domestically, but even increasingly competitive wages have had little impact because the labour pool is so limited – instead only adding to growing production costs.
“It is simplistic to argue that the end of furlough will see many more people meeting this shortfall, but furloughed workers are concentrated in urban areas and not where many agri-food roles are located. A solution to this crisis will need the right people with the right skills and training available in rural areas where many roles are based.
“A short-term Covid Recovery Visa, alongside a permanent Seasonal Workers Scheme, would be an effective and, frankly, vital route to help the pressing needs of the industry today. It would also give us time to invest in the skills and recruitment of our domestic workforce, helping to provide long-term stability so we can recruit the people we need to continue to deliver quality, nutritious and affordable food for the nation.”
The Food and Drink Federation’s chief executive, Ian Wright, said: “This really authoritative report sets out in stark detail the labour and skills shortages currently facing the food supply chain.
“The report makes it crystal clear that today’s labour shortages are caused by a multitude of structural factors beyond those created by Covid-19 and the end of the Brexit transition period.”
Nick Allen, chief executive of the British Meat Processors Association, said: “The meat industry has been severely impacted by the current labour crisis, which is not only resulting in shortages in shops but is also beginning to have increasing upstream impacts on farms.”
The report comes as the Government is finally believed to be considering bringing forward a review of its Shortage of Occupation list to tackle the issue of the HGV driver shortage.
Supermarkets and suppliers are struggling to meet demand following an exodus of drivers from EU countries, who returned to the continent during the pandemic and remained there.
This is coupled with the health crisis bringing DVLA testing centres to a standstill, creating a huge backlog of drivers taking their HGV test.
A review of the Shortage of Occupation list, which sets out jobs where overseas workers can apply for visas, is not due until next year.
But it has been reported that proposals have been floated for bringing forward the review so HGV drivers can be included to ease the problems facing the supply chain.
Several Government departments are liaising over the supply chain issues. Home Office officials are said to be blocking the review being brought forward, amid concerns it could lead to other sectors demanding inclusion.
HGV drivers are currently not included on the list but there is pressure from supermarkets to include them to help ease the shortfall while more UK drivers are trained.
The current average age of a UK HGV driver is 55 and ministers are concerned an aging workforce needs replacing.
The Government introduced a seasonal workers visa in December last year for 30,000 workers to come to the UK to primarily pick fruit, but there were exemptions on the jobs available - including meat processing factories and flower pickers.
The Government said this week: “The British people repeatedly voted to end free movement and take back control of our immigration system and employers should invest in our domestic workforce instead of relying on labour from abroad.”
Farm businesses have done all they can to recruit staff domestically TOM BRADSHAW