Businesses have just two weeks to apply for the for the pilot of the Government’s Seasonal Farm Workers Scheme.
The scheme, which is designed to help the horticultural sector, will take place in 2019 and 2020 with applications due before October 17, 2018.
Once applications are in Defra will select two organisations from the responses to provide final proposals to the Home Office.
The Seasonal Workers Pilot will allow recruitment of a limited number of temporary migrants for specific seasonal roles in the horticultural sector.
Timeline
The pilot will mean fruit and vegetable farmers are able to employ migrant workers for seasonal work for up to 6 months.
The pilot will be managed by the Home Office under the Tier 5 (Temporary Worker) Seasonal Worker category.
It’s expected decisions will be made in December with licences to be approved between January and March.
2,500 workers from outside the EU will be able to come to the UK each year, alleviating labour shortages during peak production periods.
However, critics warn that the number is not enough to make a major impact.
This week it was revealed that on Northern Irish farms, one in five paid farm workers are from outside of the UK and Ireland.
