Government representatives told BBC that the government will not issue any new visas to agriculture and food businesses which are already facing serious personnel shortages.
Despite dire staff shortages in the agriculture, meat processing, and hospitality sectors, the UK government will not increase access to foreign labour, BBC News reports.
Rather than easing immigration rules, UK ministers are advising companies to boost wages and working conditions in an effort to recruit domestically, according to a report.
The BBC reported that a UK government source said businesses need to improve pay and conditions in order to move to a high-wage, high-skilled economy.
During the years since Brexit, businesses had been told they needed to transition to a high-wage, high-skill economy and refrain from practices of engaging with cheap labour from other countries. The current labour shortage is being exacerbated by their unwillingness to accept this.
According to the government, they are “closely monitoring labour supply” but “the government encourages all sectors to make employment more attractive to UK domestic workers through offering training, careers options wage increases and investment.”
The government announced visas for HGV drivers last week, but pig farmers, meat processors, and farms in other agricultural industries had hoped for a tailored visa scheme to reduce the problem of staff shortage.
