Watchdog criticizes Home Office for dropping farm worker visa review. The UK government confirms it will not publish a promised review despite calls from non-profits, academics and its own independent inspector.

Original source: The Bureau Investigative Journalism by Hajar Meddah and Emiliano Mellino – 26th October 2023.

The head of the independent watchdog for immigration has criticised the Home Office for failing to publish a promised review of the UK’s seasonal worker scheme.

David Neal, the government-appointed independent chief inspector of borders and immigration, made the comments after the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ) discovered that the Home Office no longer plans to conduct and publish the review he called for last year. 

Concerns about exploitation in the seasonal workers scheme, he said, “make transparency particularly important,” said Neal, a former head of the military police. “It would be very disappointing if, after accepting my recommendation in full, the Home Office did not fulfil its commitment.”

The seasonal worker scheme began in 2019 to address labour shortages in the farming sector, which were expected to be worsened by Brexit. It has since expanded rapidly. There were 2,500 visas available in 2019 but up to 55,000 this year. 

Allegations of mistreatment have plagued the programme. A TBIJ investigation earlier this year revealed systemic bullying and abuse of workers, issues that the government had been aware of but failed to investigate.

Neal said he had long been frustrated by the Home Office’s “slow and often incomplete” implementation of his recommendations, including ones it had fully accepted.

In December 2022, Neal published the findings of his inspection into the seasonal worker visa programme. The report made three recommendations, including an “overdue review” of the scheme. The Home Office agreed and anticipated the process would be complete by April 2023.

After the review failed to materialise, 10 non-profit organisations and academics wrote letters to the immigration minister Robert Jenrick, calling for the review to be published and for fairer recruitment practises in the scheme.

Read more from this investigation

‘All that is missing is a whip’: Home Office ignored migrant worker abuses on farms

‘They treat you like an animal’: How British farms run on exploitation

Migrant workers are being ripped off by employers on farms‘

We weren’t viewed as humans’: Migrant workers tell parliament of discrimination and cruelty on UK farms

Responding, Jenrick stated there were no plans to publish reviews of the scheme, as they were of “limited value”. Earlier commitments to ensuring the scheme protected migrant workers from modern slavery, he wrote, “in no way committed the Home Office to producing ongoing reports in perpetuity”.

Caroline Robinson, founder of the Worker Support Centre, a Scotland-based organisation that provides assistance to seasonal workers, also signed the letter to Jenrick. She told TBIJ she believed the Home Office wasn’t interested in understanding the risks faced by people on the scheme. The publication of a review would create an opportunity for open conversation with the government about what needs to change in order to “really safeguard workers”, she said.

James Lynch, another signatory and founding co-director of the human rights advocacy group FairSquare, said the decision to drop the review was “bizarre and deeply disappointing”.

He added: “There is an urgent need for a full and transparent review of the scheme, to identify as a priority how to make British agriculture safer for migrant workers.”

The Home Office said it has been making improvements to “stop exploitation and clamp down on poor working conditions” since the seasonal worker visa scheme was launched. It added: “We will always take decisive action where we believe abusive practices are taking place.

UK Home Office Criticised for Decsion on Migrant Agriculture Worker Review

Original source: Fair Square

The Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration in the UK has criticised the government’s failure to publish a review of the “seasonal workers route”, the scheme in which multiple media investigations and NGO reports have identified labour exploitation and abuse of migrant workers.

The Home Office’s decision not to publish a promised review of the scheme came in a 20 September letter to NGOs (including FairSquare) and other experts from the UK and countries of migrant workers’ origin, who had originally written to the minister in May calling for stronger controls on recruitment processes and other areas to protect migrant workers.

Speaking to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and the Independent, David Neal, the government-appointed independent chief inspector of borders and immigration said that concerns about exploitation in the seasonal workers scheme, he said, “make transparency particularly important… It would be very disappointing if, after accepting my recommendation [to publish a review of the scheme] in full, the Home Office did not fulfil its commitment.” The Home Office had said, in response to Mr Neal’s inspection, that it would publish the review by April 2023.

“There is an urgent need for a full and transparent review of the scheme, to identify as a priority how to make British agriculture safer for migrant workers.”

James Lynch, co-director of FairSquare

Read the full exchange of letters here:

• Civil society letter to Robert Jenrick, 11 May 2023
• Robert Jenrick response to civil society, 14 June 2023
• Civil society letter to Robert Jenrick, 4 August 2023
• Robert Jenrick response to civil society, 20 September 2023

Recent stories on challenges of UK seasonal worker scheme:

1. Working in the UK: Hundreds of Indonesian Citizens Escape, More Than 1,200 Workers from Indonesia Threatened to Cancel (BBC, 16th Feb 2023)

2. AG Recruitment, UK recruiter of debt-hit Indonesian and Nepali migrant workers, loses seasonal workers scheme license following forced labour related allegations, worker abscondments and asylum claims (Guardian, 10th Feb 2023)

3. Indonesian former fruit pickers become illegal immigrants and asylum seekers in the UK – ‘This is the easiest shortcut’ (BBC, 26th Jan 2023)

4. Home Office accepts recommendations in Chief Inspector’s report on immigration system as it relates to the agricultural sector (Freeths, 16^th Jan 2023)

5. Immigration: Investors warn food companies about risk of forced labour on UK farms (Financial Times 19^th Dec 2022)

6. Investor statement on the UK Seasonal Worker Scheme (Public Investor Statement 19^th Dec 2022)

7. Hundreds of Indonesian fruit pickers in UK seek diplomatic help  (Guardian, 2^nd Dec 2022)

8. Seasonal worker visa puts migrants at risk of exploitation, say supermarkets (Guardian, 2^nd Dec 2022)

9. Seasonal fruit pickers from Nepal left thousands in debt after being sent home early from UK farms (Guardian, 13^th Nov 2022)

10. Indonesia to investigate claims fruit pickers in UK seasonal agricultural workers scheme charged thousands to work in Kent (Guardian, 29^th Aug 2022)

See also: 23rd Oct 2023 Independent: Secret report on UK modern slavery – Foreign workers on British farms allegedly starved, abused, denied medical care, and financially exploited.

See also: 11th March 2023: ‘UK Seasonal Workers Scheme Taskforce’ to fund audits to prevent worker exploitation.

See also: 27th July 2023: UK’s Seasonal Worker Scheme Raising Human Rights Concerns in the Food Sector.

See also: 23rd June 2023 – ‘They’re afraid’: Seasonal farm workers in the UK face poor conditions and visa hurdles.

See also: Guardian 23rd Feb 2023 – Farm workers on UK seasonal visas to be guaranteed 32 hours a week.

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