In his political address on the first day of NFU Conference, Mark Spencer referred to the government鈥檚 recent confirmation that 45,000 visas would be made available for growers this year 鈥渨ith the possibility of 10,000 more, if we can show they鈥檙e needed鈥�.
鈥淚f we are able to look after those people properly while they鈥檙e here, give them a minimum of 32 hours of work every week, and I am pleased to confirm today that we will pay them at least the national living wage from 1 April, this year,鈥� he continued.
The announcement follows months of extensive NFU lobbying set against a backdrop of major inflationary and input cost pressures for the horticulture sector.
Huge relief
NFU Deputy President Tom Bradshaw described the decision as having provided 鈥済reat relief鈥� to growers, with labour being 鈥渙ne of the highest costs associated with producing fruit and vegetables鈥�.
鈥淭he announcement is a great relief to the horticulture sector 鈥� growers need confidence to continue producing food for the nation."
NFU Deputy President Tom Bradshaw
鈥淟ooking after the people that come to work in our horticultural businesses is absolutely crucial and the additional guarantee of a minimum 32 hours per week will help give them confidence to travel to the UK,鈥� Tom noted.
Growers need confidence
Introduced in April 2022, a 60p per hour wage increase was included as part of the SWS (Seasonal Worker Scheme) which left growers facing a 13.5% year-on-year wage inflation.
The NFU raised concerns during 2022 around the lack of clarity surrounding the wage increase and the short notice of the changes, giving growers only weeks to adapt during a time when the sector was, and still is, facing unprecedented challenges.
鈥淕rowers need confidence to continue producing food for the nation鈥�, Tom said. 鈥淲e worked with government to provide evidence to demonstrate the impact further wage inflation in 2023 would have on the decline of domestic horticulture production.鈥�
While the NFU welcomes the announcement that the seasonal worker scheme wage will revert to the NWL, Tom warned that 鈥渢here remain a number of aspects of the scheme that can be improved, not least the length of the scheme which currently only has two more seasons to run, but growers will at least have some certainty for the year ahead鈥�.
