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The Youth Mobility Scheme allows employers to access younger workers from countries such as India and Iceland for two years. With skills shortages afflicting critical sectors, now might be the time for the government to consider a youth visa agreement with the EU, writes Nick Rollason. The long running HGV driver crisis and its recent knock-on effects on the UK’s fuel and food supply chains have prompted the government to issue 10,500 temporary visas to fill skill and staff shortages in these sectors. While we hopefully will have turkeys on our tables for Christmas, it is unlikely that this post-Brexit immigration giveaway will solve longer term structural problems in the road transport sector and our supply chains. Shortages in this industry are now endemic in many countries, and a combination of poor working conditions together with the memories of huge delays at the UK border in 2020 mean it is unlikely that the promise of a short-term visa will lure many drivers to these shores. The 30,000 visas available for Seasonal Agricultural Workers, many of whom come from the EU, does not even touch the sides of what this sector needs. And if that wasn’t enough for the government, the hospitality industry has now come out to push for bartenders, chefs and sommeliers to be included in the shortage occupation list. The debacle throws a spotlight on the government’s failure to plan for this huge adjustment to the labour market. It was clear that the end of free movement would have obvious consequences for sectors with low wages, tight margins, and existing staffing shortages. The outcomes we are seeing, while not entirely predictable, could at least have been foreseen as one of a range of consequences for shutting the UK off from lower skilled workers. While the new immigration system did lower the overall skills threshold for Skilled Worker sponsored visas, it was always going to keep out the very workers that UK employers are crying out for now.
