Memorandum submitted by HOPS Labour Solutions
BACKGROUND AND
WORK OF
HOPS LABOUR SOLUTIONS
HOPS Labour Solutions is a department of the
National Federation of Young Farmers' Clubs (England & Wales),
and is based at the YFC headquarters at Stoneleigh Park. The core
work of HOPS is as one of the Home Office appointed Operators
of the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme (SAWS). In
addition to this, since 2004, HOPS is operating a new programme
called the Seasonal Workers Programme (SWP). The purpose
of the SWP is for HOPS to continue working with nationals of countries
that acceded to the European Union on 1st May 2004. HOPS had formerly
recruited large numbers of student participants from these countries
to come and work in the UK under SAWS.
HOPS is one of the largest providers of temporary
labour to horticulture/agriculture and recruits up to 8,500 workers
per year to work on approximately 260 holdings across the whole
of the UK. Currently 71% of placements are in the fruit sector
and 18% in the salad/vegetable sector with the remaining 11% placed
on a wide spectrum of horticultural and agricultural holdings.
SAWS participants are recruited from Romania, Bulgaria.
SWP participants are recruited from the A8 accession states (Poland,
Hungary, Slovenia, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia and
Lithuania). All recruitment is implemented through a network of
approximately 40 In Country Representatives in the participant's
home countries. The Representatives are most commonly University
personnel, ex SAWS participants or agencies with close links to
universities.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
HOPS Labour Solutions as one of the largest
single providers of workers into the Agricultural and Horticultural
sector welcome the Inquiry into the "Points Based System".
Whilst we welcome the review we feel that further consideration
should be made on the adjustment of the SAWS sector based scheme.
HOPS staff are extremely well respected and experienced and have
a good understanding of Industry concerns.
There is no reason that SAWS increased the level
of immigration at the point of accession of A8. Government allowed
free access for workers from the A8 in 2004 when in fact they
had seven years to permit the process to be completed in full.
The total SAWS work cards issued by Government to all SAWS Operators
in 2004 was 23,000, this decreased to 16,500 by 2006 and is now
16,250. (28% decrease of work cards between 2004-06) at the same
time that the level of total immigration increased significantly.
The amount of Countries has decreased significantly
from which recruitments can take place for SAWS, now restricted
entirely to A2.The scheme restricted entirely to A2 (Romania and
Bulgaria) Countries should not be phased out prior to opening
the access to workers from A2, which will be reviewed by government
later in 2008. SAWS is already restricted to Romania and Bulgaria
and in our opinion is an ideal barometer for government to show
the demand from Romanians and Bulgarians that wish to travel and
work in the UK for seasonal work, we are currently operating within
a strict quota that does not even achieve the demand from UK growers
or allow the demand from Romanian and Bulgarians to be achieved.
HOPS recommend SAWS is re-named or changed to
focus its use within Tier 3 and 5. We would hope the "points
based system" and specifically Tier 3 can be used for the
purpose that it was created for, which is to allow the use of
schemes like SAWS to benefit the UK economy and ensure adequate
controls are in place to maintain an adequate supply of low skilled
labour for the UK Horticultural and Agricultural Industry.
SAWS is a proven, trusted managed scheme that
allows seasonal workers to be recruited for a short period of
time to benefit the UK economy.
HOPS places workers onto private growers premises
for direct employment, it is these growers that have passed on
their concerns to HOPS in relation to problems with supply of
labour. Early and late season harvest is currently at most risk
( April-June and Sept-November) as many workers return home before
their six month work card has expired. This is exactly the reason
why HOPS recommends that government issues more work cards, to
ensure enough are circulating to ensure the critical mass of seasonal
workers are within industry at the critical times, making up for
those that return early to sit exams etc.
TERMS OF
REFERENCE
Managing Migration: the Points-Based System
The Home Affairs Committee has today launched
a new inquiry entitled "Managing Migration: the Points-Based
System". The Committee will inquire into the Government's
implementation plans for its new points-based migration system,
including an examination of the impact of the proposed system
on particular groups and sectors and an assessment of the introduction
of new sponsorship arrangements.
The Committee will consider the Government's proposals
across a number of different areas, including:
— the impact on certain sectors of
phasing out sector-specific schemes, including the Seasonal Agricultural
Worker's Scheme and Sectors Based Schemes;
— the effect of the proposed changes
on the education, sports and culture sectors;
— proposed sponsorship arrangements,
including the impact of fees and greater responsibility on small
and medium enterprises; and
— the immigration-related provisions
of the Government's draft Citizenship, Immigration and Borders
Bill (when available).
Rt Hon Keith Vaz MP, Chairman of the Committee,
said:
"It is vital that the Government effectively
manages migration to and from the UK to meet the demands of our
economy and manage pressures on our labour market. We therefore
wish to examine the Government's plans for simplifying existing
migration routes into this country through the new points-based
migration system."
Extract|.
Home Affairs—Second Report; Session 2007-08
Background: access to British labour market
1. Bulgaria and Romania (the A2) acceded
to the European Union on 1 January 2007. As Member States cannot
restrict freedom of movement within the Union, all Bulgarian and
Romanian nationals have an initial right of residence in the UK
for three months and a right to remain indefinitely if they are
students, self-employed persons, or self-sufficient persons.
2. Member States do, however, have discretion
to restrict migration of workers for up to seven years. The UK
Government chose to impose restrictions for an initial two-year
period, to be reviewed on an annual basis. Low-skilled Bulgarian
and Romanian nationals may only apply to work as seasonal agricultural
workers or on sector-based schemes (currently limited to food
processing); highly-skilled Bulgarian and Romanian workers and
workers with specialist skills are admitted, as previously, on
the basis of work permits.
3. According to the then Home Secretary,
Rt Hon John Reid MP, the restrictions were imposed in order to
"deal with" and avoid exacerbating the "transitional
impacts" experienced by some areas following the 2004 EU
enlargement, in terms of increased school admissions, overcrowding
in private housing, and cost pressures on English language training.
This rationale was reiterated to us by the Minister of State for
Nationality, Citizenship and Immigration, Mr Liam Byrne MP, on
6 December 2006.
4. The Government announced on 30 October
2007 that, following a review of A2 arrangements, it had decided
to maintain the restrictions until at least the end of 2008.
SUMMARY OF
THE MAIN
POINTS, FACTUAL
INFORMATION AND
RECOMMENDATIONS
1. HOPS Labour Solutions provides part of
the seasonal labour force for 260 growers from the UK Horticultural
and Agricultural sector:
(i) our concerns relate to the impact on certain
sectors of phasing out sector-specific schemes, including the
Seasonal Agricultural Worker's Scheme and Sectors Based Schemes.
2. We feel that there is no reason that
SAWS increased the level of immigration at the point of accession
of A8. Government allowed free access for workers from the A8
in 2004 when government had seven years to permit the process
to be completed in full:
(i) the total SAWS work cards issued by Government
to all SAWS Operators in 2004 was 23,000, this decreased to 16,500
by 2006 and is now 16,250. (28% decrease of work cards between
2004-06) at the same time that the level of total immigration
increased significantly.
(ii) the amount of Countries has decreased significantly
from which recruitments can take place for SAWS, now restricted
entirely to A2.
(iii) 2008. EU source only, 2007 60% Non EU,
2006 and prior 100% Non EU.
3. HOPS recommend SAWS is re-named or changed
to focus its use within Tier 3 and 5. We would hope the "points
based system" and specifically Tier 3 can be used for the
purpose that it was created for, which is to allow the use of
schemes like SAWS to benefit the UK economy and ensure adequate
controls are in place to maintain an adequate supply of low skilled
labour for the UK Horticultural and Agricultural Industry.
4. SAWS is already restricted to Romania
and Bulgaria and in our opinion is an ideal barometer for government
to show the demand from Romanians and Bulgarians that wish to
travel and work in the UK for seasonal work, we are currently
operating within a strict quota that does not even achieve the
demand from UK growers or allow the demand from Romanian and Bulgarians
to be achieved.
5. HOPS recommends increasing the number
of work cards to take into account labour demanded as well as
the amount of part used work cards that are issued, which is a
result of some workers returning home to continue their studies
or take up work in their home country prior to the six month expiry
date of the work card.
6. The scheme restricted entirely to A2
(Romania and Bulgaria) Countries should not be phased out prior
to opening the access to workers from A2, which will be reviewed
by government later in 2008.
7. SAWS is a proven, trusted managed scheme
that allows seasonal workers to be recruited for a short period
of time to benefit the UK economy.
8. HOPS recommends, allowing the scheme
to evolve into an improved scheme that is fit for purpose for
the UK industry as demands and economic circumstances evolve.
9. Once free access for A2 workers is permitted,
SAWS or similar sector based scheme, should be utilised under
current strict scheme management (as it is now) to allow access
to the valuable resource from outside the EU, as and when required.
10. Early and late season harvest is currently
at most risk (April-June and Sept-November) as many workers return
home before their six month work card has expired. This is exactly
the reason why more work cards are required to be circulating
to ensure the critical mass of seasonal workers in industry is
achieved at the critical times, making up for those workers that
return early to sit exams etc.
11. A recent government report "The
impact of migration from the new European Union Member States
on native workers" has been published, Working Paper No.
52" by Sara Lemos, University of Leicester and Jonathan Portes,
June 2008 41 pages. Although, SAWS workers are only temporary
residents in the UK and would have lesser impact on local services
than those migrants reported on here.
(i) This paper examines the impact of migration
from the new EU Member States on the labour market outcomes of
natives in the UK. Building on Gilpin et al (2006), and
making a number of significant improvements and extensions, we
find no statistically significant impact of A8 migration on claimant
unemployment, either overall or for any identifiable subgroup.
In particular we find no adverse impacts on the young or low-skilled.
Nor do we find a statistically significant impact on wages, either
on average or at any point in the wage distribution, although
the evidence here is less complete.
12. SAWS quota from A2 needs to increase
immediately, EU workers (A8) are finding the UK less attractive.
It is expected that the A2 economies will follow the A8 success
and the UK will become less attractive for eastern EU seasonal
labour over the next decade. A few reasons that EU (A8) Seasonal
workers find the UK less attractive are:
(i) Better living and working conditions in home
EU countries, increasing wages and falling unemployment following
influx of EU funds and investments into eastern EU.
(ii) Falling pound, exchange rate, in 2004 £1
+ 6.50 PLN (Polish Zloty), 2006 £1 = 5.80 PLN, and currently
£1 = 4.10 PLN.
(iii) Opportunities in more economically attractive
EU and EEA countries.
(iv) Changes to University study structure resulting
in very low number of student applicants available between months
of February and June (up to 2005 students mainly from Agricultural
universities accounted for 100% recruits coming through HOPS).
July 2008
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