The UK’s food and farming sector has written to the Prime Minister asking him to implement as a matter of urgency a Covid-19 Recovery Visa to alleviate crippling labour shortages across the supply chain.

This follows an emergency roundtable convened by the National Farmers’ Union (NFU), with representatives from the UK food supply chain, to discuss the growing crisis, which has resulted in empty shelves in supermarkets and, in some cases, food left on farms unable to be picked up or processed.

Among the signatories are British Frozen Food Federation, British Meat Processors Association, British Poultry Council Limited, Food and Drink Federation, National Pig Association, Road Haulage Association Limited, the Cold Chain Federation.

The 12 organisations behind the letter are united in the short and long-term measures needed to solve this issue:

• The introduction of a 12-month COVID Recovery Visa which would enable all involved throughout the supply chain to recruit critical roles as a short-term response to labour shortages
• Commitment to a permanent, revised and expanded Seasonal Worker Scheme for UK horticulture to ensure it is flexible and large enough to meet the industry’s workforce needs
• An urgent review by the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) on the impact of ending free movement on the food and farming sector, in the same way it is doing for adult social care.

“The situation is not improving”

The letter to the Prime Minister said: “The food and farming sector remains on a knife edge due to the unprecedented shortages of workers across the entire supply chain. The industry came together in the summer to evidence these challenges, and the final report showed that there are an estimated 500,000 unfilled vacancies across the industry.

“The situation is not improving, in fact, images of empty supermarket shelves are becoming commonplace as labour shortages bite. As we move towards Christmas, there is a substantial threat of food inflation directly impacting the poorest families.”

In the letter, NFU warned that without government support “more shelves will go empty and consumers will panic buy to try and get through the winter.

“It is a travesty that this is happening in parallel with UK food producers disposing of perfectly edible food as it either cannot be picked, packed, processed or transported to the end customer. Every day there are new examples of food waste across the industry, from chicken to pork, fruit and vegetables, dairy and many other products. The food is there, but it needs people to get it to the consumers.”