I’m sure you will all have seen the big news last week; that government has finally agreed to run a pilot seasonal workers scheme for the horticulture sector. This is a major victory for all of us, and follows over five years of hard work collecting evidence, shaping our arguments, and presenting them to government in a convincing manner. We have garnered considerable support from a large number of MPs, in particular Michael Gove and Sajid Javid, who we convinced of the seriousness of the situation and the need to take action. The announcement by the Home Office is also recognition that we have a thriving sector producing the highest quality fruit, vegetables, plants and flowers, and the government wishes to support that.
So what does the pilot scheme look like? We don’t have the full details just yet, but we know it will consist of just 2,500 placements for six months at a time, and it will run for two years and be managed by two labour providers. It’s by no means the complete answer to our current labour shortages but is certainly an important step in the right direction. We are already working hard to influence the details with DEFRA to make sure all Pilot results are meaningful.
Going forward, this pilot must lead to a full scheme that enables us to plug any shortfall in workers. We will continue to work with government and provide the evidence of the sector’s labour shortages and keep the pressure on for a comprehensive scheme once the pilot concludes.
I would like to take this opportunity to personally thank all of you who worked with us, and very many of you did, whether by talking to MP’s, media or supplying evidence; it is very gratifying to see that our hard work is paying off.
I also want to draw your attention to the government review of AHDB, which opened last week. This is an important opportunity to give your views on how your levy body is run and what its priorities should be, and I know that a lot of you have strong opinions on the role of the organisation. You can find the consultation here: https://consult.defra.gov.uk/farming/views-on-ahdb/ and I would urge you to get your response in before it closes on 9th November.