ABOUT THE ALP
ALP REPRESENTATIVE AND POLICY WORK
Immigration Policy The Government wants to reduce overall levels of migration and give priority to those with higher skills through the introduction of a new points-based system. The Immigration Policy Statement confirms that “We will not introduce a general low-skilled or temporary work route. We need to shift the focus of our economy away from a reliance on cheap labour from Europe and instead concentrate on investment in technology and automation. Employers will need to adjust”.
The Seasonal Workers Scheme pilot, despite the impact of the pandemic has been a success. The KPI results from both operators have been very positive. ALP has published the ‘Achieving a Successful Seasonal Workers Scheme’ and ‘Seasonal Workers' Scheme Code of Good Practice Multi-Stakeholder Working Group - Recommendations for future scheme design’ reports. ALP’s position on the future Scheme is to allow more GLAA licensed labour providers to become sponsors with licence numbers based on evidence of seasonal labour demands.
Access to Labour
IMMIGRATION AND RIGHT TO WORK ALP has produced comprehensive guidance, FAQs, webinars and training to support labour providers to continue to effectively operate within the new rules. The ALP’s policy is that sector-based schemes for lower skilled workers should be introduced for Covid-19 critical sectors such as health, social care and food supply where evidence indicates a shortage. The Migration Advisory Committee should make annual evidencebased recommendations to government on sectors, roles and thresholds for temporary immigration of lower skilled workers. Experiences of recruiting UK resident workers for seasonal work in 2020 has been mixed.
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A key focus of ALP’s activities in recent years has been supporting members and the wider food supply chain to improve their ability to source and retain workers in a near full employment economy.
ACCESS TO LABOUR The coronavirus pandemic has fundamentally changed the labour market with unemployment now predicted to be at its highest level in decades. The new immigration rules will significantly reduce the ability of businesses to recruit lower skilled labour from outside the UK although around 4 million EU nationals will have been granted settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement
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