According to a report in The Guardian, prime minister Rishi Sunak has been urged not to let a renewed focus on reducing immigration hold back the UK economy. Instead, he has been told to ‘cooperate with the private sector on how to manage and address shortages in the labour market.’
In its annual report, the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) revealed that the sectors with ‘severe’ potential to exploit workers and fail to comply with employment rules were hand car washes, and seasonal horticultural workers. It commented, ‘Looking at the Seasonal Worker visa in particular (a temporary visa allowing migrants to work in the UK in horticultural jobs such as fruit picking), seasonal workers in the UK in this sector (albeit under Freedom of Movement (FoM)) have described the long hours, hard work, and isolation, but also the positives that come with being in the UK on this route – the main positive being the amount of money they earn and save in the UK compared to their home countries.’
However, it added, ‘Another way in which workers could be safeguarded more efficiently is by minimising barriers to the return of workers who have come to the UK on seasonal visas and who wish to repeat the experience. Returning workers are viewed positively by scheme operators, who have more time to carry out checks and who can be more confident that placements will work out with a worker who is a known quantity, and by retailers who welcome the added assurance and reduced risks of exploitation in recruitment. Growers also tend to prefer workers with experience of their sites’ specific ways of working, particularly in more specialist growing.’ To enable this the report called on the government to provide more time in announcing scheme quotas, operators, etc.
Prof Brian Bell, the chair of the MAC, said: “The UK finds itself facing a recession. Yet with rising rates of economic inactivity and a large number of job vacancies, it would be all too tempting to imagine that a quick fix can be achieved simply by easing some of the restrictions on the immigration work routes… the government needs to proactively manage and address shortages through the implementation of an effective strategy and joined-up thinking across government and the private sector.