Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Latest NewsRecruitment & retentionSkills shortagesImmigrationMigrant workers

Business secretary rejects call for HGV driver visas

by Ashleigh Webber 31 Aug 2021
by Ashleigh Webber 31 Aug 2021 Business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng
Ian Davidson / Alamy Stock Photo
Business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng
Ian Davidson / Alamy Stock Photo

The business secretary has rejected pleas to relax the immigration rules to allow firms hit by a shortage of lorry drivers to recruit from overseas.

Kwasi Kwarteng told employers that they should hire UK-based workers and train them up as lorry drivers instead of relying on labour from abroad to ease the crisis.

Staff shortages

Relax immigration requirements to solve staff crisis, ministers urged

Amazon offering £1,000 bonus to lure warehouse staff

Lobby groups call for U-turn on temporary driver visas

Why salaries won’t lure new talent forever

Logistics bodies estimate that there is a shortfall of around 100,000 HGV drivers, which is threatening the supply chain.

It is understood that the shortage has been driven by a combination of Brexit, Covid-19 and a shortage of HGV driver testing capacity at DVSA test centres, as well as long-standing perceptions of long working hours.

Earlier this month industry body Logistics UK and the British Retail Consortium wrote to Kwarteng, urging the government to consider granting temporary work visas to HGV drivers from EU countries.

Industry bodies have also called for HGV drivers to be included on the shortage occupations list, which sets out jobs for which overseas workers can apply for visas. However, a review of the list is not expected until next year.

However, the business secretary responded to the letter by saying that hiring workers from abroad is only a short-term solution to the issue, and that companies should focus on hiring and training UK-based workers.

“The government recognise that the UK labour market has changed dramatically due to the economic impacts and measures necessary to tackle Covid-19, and I realise that by adding HGV drivers to the shortage occupation list, this could provide a short-term, temporary solution,” he said in a letter to the bodies

“However, many UK-based workers now face an uncertain future and need to find new employment opportunities. I am sure you would agree on the importance of utilising the strength of our domestic workforce, and how our migration policies need to be considered alongside our strategies to ensure UK-based workers are better able to secure decent employment opportunities.”

In a statement given to Sky News, Logistics UK’s  general manager of public policy Alex Veitch said it was frustrated with the government’s decision not to relax visa requirements for HGV drivers.

“While these new domestic drivers are trained and qualify into the workforce, which can take up to nine months, and DVSA works through its backlog of outstanding HGV driver tests – which we estimate could take until early 2022 – temporary visas made available for European workers would help to overcome the current supply chain problems experienced across the country,” said Veitch.

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

OptOut
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

“The industry needs drivers now, and we have been urging the government to replicate its temporary visa scheme, introduced for agricultural workers, for logistics to keep trucks and vans moving in the short term.”

Workforce planning opportunities on Personnel Today


Browse more workforce planning jobs

Ashleigh Webber

Ashleigh is a former editor of OHW+ and former HR and wellbeing editor at Personnel Today. Ashleigh's areas of interest include employee health and wellbeing, equality and inclusion and skills development. She has hosted many webinars for Personnel Today, on topics including employee retention, financial wellbeing and menopause support.

previous post
Pregnant Then Screwed to give closing keynote at EB Live 2021
next post
Do more to help young find work, prime minister urged

You may also like

North Sea oil giant to cut 250 jobs...

8 May 2025

Skills shortages blight sustainability revolution

16 Apr 2025

‘Clean power army’ to create thousands of jobs

7 Apr 2025

HR and businesses respond to Spring Statement

26 Mar 2025

Schneider Electric doubles ex-military green skills scheme

13 Mar 2025

The future of work: is the UK workforce...

11 Mar 2025

Handling headcount conundrums as hiring confidence dips

10 Mar 2025

Questions your CEO really needs to ask about...

7 Mar 2025

CIPD survey: sharp fall in confidence among businesses

17 Feb 2025

National Apprenticeship Week: Transforming the role of skills

14 Feb 2025

  • 2025 Employee Communications Report PROMOTED | HR and leadership...Read more
  • The Majority of Employees Have Their Eyes on Their Next Move PROMOTED | A staggering 65%...Read more
  • Prioritising performance management: Strategies for success (webinar) WEBINAR | In today’s fast-paced...Read more
  • Self-Leadership: The Key to Successful Organisations PROMOTED | Eletive is helping businesses...Read more
  • Retaining Female Talent: Four Ways to Reduce Workplace Drop Out PROMOTED | International Women’s Day...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2025

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2025 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+