Government sources have said that no further temporary visa schemes will be set up to encourage EU-based labour to fill skills gaps in the UK – a move that will disappoint many in the hospitality and retail sectors.
On Sunday, ministers set up schemes for HGV drivers and poultry workers, two of the sectors hardest hit by Brexit-related labour and supply chain issues, amid fears that Christmas would be badly affected by disruption.
Many have called for similar visas for the care sector and for hospitality, both of which are short of workers by the thousand.
Kate Nicholls, CEO of UKHospitality, warned that without measures such as temporary visas the recovery from the pandemic would “falter” despite the sector helping people into apprenticeships, rising wages and an expansion of training schemes.
She urged the government to consider “all reasonable measures”.
But the BBC has been told by government officials that the Home Office and Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy were not discussing the possibility of visas for other sectors.
Hospitality
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One government source said: “In order to move to a high-wage, high-skilled economy, businesses should invest in their workforce and improve pay and conditions.”
Another added that ministers’ view was that in the years since Brexit, some businesses had failed to heed government warnings to move away from relying on cheaper labour to a high-skill, high-wage economy.
Some food chains such as Itsu and Prezzo have been already offering pay rises and other incentives to try attract more workers.
On 28 September, the Financial Times published a letter from more than 65 hospitality leaders to the prime minister urging him to loosen immigration requirements for hospitality workers.
Lord Wolfson, chief executive of clothes retailer Next, added to the calls. Despite being a keen supporter of Brexit in the run-up to the referendum in 2016, he said this week: “Without some relaxation of immigration rules, we are likely to experience some degradation in our service in the run up to Christmas.”
In a sign of business’s alarm over the shortages and supply chain issues, director of food and sustainability at the British Retail Consortium, Andrew Opie, has warned that the 5,000 new visas created by the government for HGV drivers would “barely scratch the surface on alleviating the problem”.
He urged the government to “rapidly extend its visa scheme” adding “without action, millions of households over the country will be disappointed this Christmas”.
As for the poultry sector, the UK has a shortage of workers with the necessary training and qualifications to slaughter and process turkeys. Producers were in the past reliant on licensed EU workers with specific farming, processing and butchery skills. The BPC has said these skills cannot be replaced without a lengthy training and recruitment period.
On 26 September the government announced a temporary visa scheme for 5,500 EU poultry workers, but it is not clear how attractive this would be for workers and many, such as the British Chambers of Commerce, say it is not nearly enough.
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