during the pandemic, many workers from overseas left the united kingdom to return home. it hit the hospitality sector, as we have reported, extensively but also other sectors such as food processing, logistics construction. it is a long list. the problem now could come about, could about to become worse because as you have heard eu citizens living in the uk have until tonight to apply to stay or to lose their rights under post brexit rules introduced by the government. more than 5.6 million applications have been received but around 400,000 cases are still waiting to be processed. some businesses are warning there is already a skills shortage and this could make it a lot worse. richard halpin is chief executive of home serve, relying on workers to provide a vast array of services such as kitchen fitting, electricity