PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Agriculture: Seasonal Workers (13 December 2022)

The UK government is committed to supporting the agricultural industry and ensuring that it continues to develop and thrive. The Seasonal Worker route will be expanded in 2023, with 45,000 visas available, to support our farmers growing fruit, vegetables, and flowers as they adapt to changes in the UK labour market. The separate poultry quota will remain at 2,000 places.

This number will be kept under review with the potential to increase by a further 10,000 if necessary, and contingent on sponsors and growers improving and abiding by to worker welfare standards, including ensuring workers are guaranteed a minimum number of paid hours each week.

The seasonal worker route is specifically designed to support the UK horticulture sector – a sector in which growers typically require higher volumes of labour, for relatively short-term periods of time, in line with seasonal production peaks. The route is not designed to support non-seasonal roles which operate on a year-round basis. Employers should look to recruit from the domestic labour market in the first instance which includes those who have EU settled status, or from the range of agricultural roles eligible under the wider Points-Based-System.