By Henry Sandercock2021-05-06T14:30:00+01:00
Fruitful will look after about 6,000 of the 30,000 visa permits the government has issued for foreign workers coming to work on UK fruit & veg farms
Recruiter Fruitful Jobs has become the fourth and final operator of the expanded Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme for 2021, the government has announced.
The Herefordshire-based business has joined recent appointee AG Recruitment & Management and the two existing operators Concordia and Pro-Force in running this year’s scheme to hire temporary labourers for fruit & veg harvesting.
It will look after about 6,000 of the 30,000 visa permits the government has issued for foreign workers coming to work on UK farms during the 2021 UK harvest season. Typically, workers from abroad make up the largest proportion of the edible horticulture sector’s temporary picking and packing workforce.
The government’s Pick for Britain scheme encouraged UK workers to apply for seasonal jobs
The government has scrapped the Pick for Britain campaign aimed at recruiting UK-based workers for seasonal farm roles, the Grocer understands.
Launched last year when Covid-19 left many foreign workers unable to reach the UK in time for the beginning of the harvest season, the campaign consisted of advertising and a website hosted by AHDB which directed UK workers to roles.
While it attracted big interest – with tens of thousands of Brits applying for thousands of roles during the first national lockdown – and received major backing from Waitrose, relatively small numbers of recruits made it onto farms.
Tallents Solicitors Ross Pierrepoint considers impact of extending the Seasonal Workers Pilot after Brexit Published: 06:30, 23 January 2021
With Brexit also came the end of freedom of movement from Europe for EU and non-EU workers, leaving UK farmers wondering how they were going to recruit enough seasonal workers to help harvest the tonnes of fruit and vegetables growing in their fields, says Ross Pierrepont, an employment law specialist at Tallents Solicitors.
British farmers have traditionally relied on casual or temporary labour to pick their crops throughout the year, often comprising UK, EU and non-EU workers.
Launched originally in 2019, the Seasonal Workers Pilot provided visas to 2,500 seasonal migrant workers to allow them to work on UK farms for up to six months. This rose to 10,000 visas in 2020.