These workers said that the accommodation was adequate for temporary work, although cold and expensive to heat in winter. On analysing 2022 Defra Seasonal Workers survey data (Table 5.4), 88% of workers said they were happy with their accommodation, with slightly fewer females than males being happy (83% compared to 89%). This may reflect some of the concerns raised by women in particular, such as privacy, lack of locks, and concerns about sharing with the opposite sex. The 2022 Defra Seasonal Workers survey found that 92% of SWV workers were happy with the pay they received. There were some differences by nationality (e.g., a higher proportion of Kazakh and Nepalese respondents reported not being paid in full).
Rationale for Seasonal Work - Lack of domestic labour
A small number of employers expressed concern about scheme operators’ role in the transfer process, given the potential to charge multiple recruitment fees without offering a refund or reduction to the employer who had lost the worker. To lessen the cost burden on employers, some suggested recruitment costs be split across employers who share employees, or that the new employer should pay. Employers pay mandatory costs on the SWS, and also choose whether to take on additional costs on behalf of employees. Views on whether the scheme delivered value for money were mixed among the employers we spoke to; some said scheme costs were a reasonable price to pay to access migrant labour, while others felt it was costly and objected to paying repeatedly across the season.
Technical translations
Both the House of Lords Review and the Independent Review suggest that employers should cover this for workers. As with other additional costs, employers expressed limited appetite/ability to pay the IHS, however, some mostly large organisations expressed willingness to do this as they felt the extra cost would be offset by potential gains in productivity and reduced recruitment fees. 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.
Chapter 2: How the Seasonal Work Visa works
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There is potential that increased automation may change the nature of current jobs and create new roles entirely, which are year-round and high skilled leading to greater engagement from the domestic workforce in the sector. In an industry where a considerable amount of illegal working could exist, a seasonal worker scheme reduces the need to use illegal workers, where exploitation and negative social impacts would be greater. In 2002, the Cabinet Office’s “CurryCommission” championed SAWS′ expansion fearing that if employers could not meet their harvest labour demands through legitimate migration channels, such as SAWS, they would turn to clandestine workers (domestic benefit claimants or ‘illegal’ migrants). Chapters 4 and 5 discuss the issue of transfers in greater detail from the employer and employee perspective respectively. Workers are responsible for paying their own visa application and flight costs, and often onwards travel from the airport to their workplace if this is not provided by the employer. The cost of the SWV is currently £298, more than the £137 currently estimated as the unit cost for processing in Home Office visa fees transparency data. The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) estimated the total cost for a Kyrgyz national to come to the UK to work on the SWS at between £914-£1,839 for 2022 in their response to our CfE [footnote 3]. Currently it appears from employer evidence that workers with EUSS settled/pre-settled status who have progressed from junior positions are filling the majority of supervisory/managerial positions, both year-round and as seasonal support, however, this is a declining source of labour. Recent changes to the salary thresholds on the Skilled Worker (SW) visa may increase the difficulty of bridging the gap between the moreentry-level Regulated Qualifications Framework (RQF) 1-2 roles covered by the SWS and RQF3 roles on the SW route, worsening this gap in middle management. The table below compares pay in the main occupations seasonal workers work in (horticultural trades and farm workers) with competing occupations. These were identified by looking at the occupations without privileged immigration access and with the same minimum educational requirements as seasonal worker occupations, which had the most vacancies in 2023 across all Local Authority Areas (LAA) with 3 or more farms that have used the SWV. This analysis is not to say the following roles are comparable with seasonal work, rather they are competing with farms for labour. Table 1.7 shows, that whilst pay for ‘farm workers’ and‘horticultural trades’ is low when compared to the whole economy, it is relatively consistent with pay rates for competing occupations. Some organisations have called for remediation for those who have paid illegal recruitment fees. We agree with the Independent Review that these should be in place in all key source countries and would encourage the new government to follow the same approach. Those requesting an increased visa length tended to specify 9 months as desirable in horticulture, although there was demand from mushroom growers for a specific scheme that could last up to 2 years. This has led to prototypes becoming developed, with the potential to replace labour for much of the growing process. In addition, Defra’s review into Automation in horticulture argues it can be challenging to raise funds through external investors or grants, suggesting the technology is insufficiently advanced, and therefore carries unpalatable risk, discouraging investment. Whilst there is evidence of grants offering support these are often unsuitable for horticultural automation. In contrast, a similar size and type of business (a medium-sized ornamental horticulture grower) in a more rural area, struggled to recruit locally. Poultry employers similarly said that poor Seasonal Worker recruitment would result in dropping product lines. While some had suggested they could explore relocating their businesses abroad, ultimately many employers felt that their business, and seasonal industries as a whole, would shut down without the SWS as a source of labour. People who are in the UK on the Seasonal Worker route have no recourse to public funds (NRPF). 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