The products of agriculture are not significantly used as inputs by other sectors in the economy. In 2021, the total intermediate consumption of the products of agriculture was the lowest of the products of any sector apart from ‘other services’ at approximately £28bn (the next lowest is real estate at £48bn whilst the highest is production at £750bn). This suggests that the produce of UK agriculture is not as connected to other sectors in the economy compared to other industries. Equally, agriculture has the lowest total intermediate consumption of any sector (uses the products of other sectors as input the least) £22bn compared to £33bn for ‘other services’ and £79bn for real estate. 74% of transfers occur exclusively within England, whilst there are very few transfers from Wales (0.5% of all transfers to and from Wales) or Northern Ireland (3.8% of all transfers to and from Northern Ireland), reflecting the overall small number of Seasonal Workers there. Just over half of Scotland’s transfers were to England, with most of the remainder transferring to another farm in Scotland.
Social impacts of the scheme
Given that the SWV had been in operation for several years, in March 2023, we wrote to the then- Minister for Immigration informing him of our intention to launch an inquiry into the scheme. Under the terms of the Framework Agreement between the Home Office and the MAC we are able, alongside commissioned work from the government, to engage in work of our own choosing and to comment on the operation of any aspect of the immigration system. The MAC had previously commented on the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Scheme (SAWS) in May 2013.
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Once the scheme operators have identified the employees whom they wish to ‘sponsor’ to come to work in the UK, they assign a CoS to the worker and the worker uses this CoS to make their application online. Scheme operators use different charging models, for example a flat weekly rate or an upfront cost and lower weekly rate. Charges may also be made if the scheme operator accommodates and transports workers on the employer’s behalf. Whilst we have argued that poor conditions discourage UK workers from undertaking seasonal work, this in itself is not a sufficient precondition for favoured access to the immigration system. In general, we would expect that, in response to workers’ reluctance to undertake seasonal work, employers should increase wage rates/benefits to a point where workers would be willing to work in these roles. We have found some evidence that there is limited scope within the sector for pay increases that would be significant enough to encourage domestic participation in seasonal work.
Russian Translation acknowledge that English skills are desirable and useful but think they should continue not to be a requirement. As discussed in Chapter 4, such a requirement would add to recruitment complexity and cost. Requiring English language may reduce vulnerability to exploitation, although it would alsosubstantially reduce many workers’ opportunities to participate in the scheme.
There is also little research into personal issues such as domestic violence or sexual assault between or of workers on farms or of health issues. However, we also identified some examples of poor treatment or exploitation in every strand of the work we carried out and evidence of this can also be seen in responses to the Defra Seasonal Workers survey. As noted earlier, the Defra Seasonal Workers survey is disseminated online to Seasonal Workers by the scheme operators.
They told us that sometimes workers will arrive without warning or having gone through their scheme operator at a new farm. In many cases, particularly if the Seasonal Worker is sponsored by a different scheme provider to that used by the farm, this is not possible. People who are in the UK on the Seasonal Worker route have no recourse to public funds (NRPF). In common with other work routes, workers are required to demonstrate that they have personal savings of £1,270 in order to ensure that they can support themselves in the UK initially. The SWS allows scheme operators to act as a guarantor for a Seasonal Worker for their first month, thereby meeting this financial visa requirement.
The IHS was announced to be rising by 66% to £1,035 in July 2023, taking effect from February 2024, and this increased cost may impact employers’ views on an extended visa. It was suggested that (in case of transfers or multiple placements) the IHS could be split among employers on a pro-rata basis to reduce any individual strain. However, employers requiring Seasonal Workers for 6 months or fewer may be reluctant to contribute towards additional costs. As shown in Figure 4.6, currently most workers do not transfer between employers, but this might increase if the visa was longer, meaning that a larger group of employers would need to deal with the pro-rating of IHS costs.
- In the US, for example, labour standards enforcement is the responsibility of the Department of Labor (DOL) – the Wage and Hour Division (WHD) is DOL’s primary H-2A labour enforcer and covers wages, hours, underpayment, housing and transport violations.
- As we discussed in Chapter 4, returnees are particularly valuable to employers and hence they have a business interest in ensuring workers will wish to come back.
- Once the scheme operators have identified the employees whom they wish to ‘sponsor’ to come to work in the UK, they assign a CoS to the worker and the worker uses this CoS to make their application online.
However, it is also possible that some workers may be asked to do jobs outside their remit. A FLEX survey reports 25% (of 395 respondents) were not given accurate information concerning tasks. For example, some workers came to the UK expecting to do a specific job such as picking fruit inside in a greenhouse, but instead were picking cabbages outdoors or pruning. The DLME has consistently identified agriculture as a high-risk sector for labour market non- compliance.