SEARCHING FOR THE JOB SEEKERS

With seasonal and permanent roles becoming ever harder to fill, Horticulture looks at how we got here, what the impacts are… and what needs to happen next

Words by: Spence Gunn

The figures tell an all-toofamiliar story. The NFU survey of labour providers to farms and nurseries suggests around 16% of seasonal jobs starting in June – the last month figures are available for – went unfilled. And given that the same survey posted an 11% shortfall overall for the first half of the year, the picture appears to have become worse, not better, as the year has gone on.

Of those recruited through the agencies taking part in the survey, only one in four was an EU resident with settled or pre-settled status, half of whom were classified as returnees. Almost all of the remainder were non-EU citizens on the seasonal workers pilot scheme.

There are simply not enough – and

NFU chief horticulture and potatoes adviser

while not everyone uses labour agencies, the picture is similar wherever you look.

The cluster of horticultural businesses in West Sussex, for example, had a labour shortfall across both permanent and seasonal roles of around 12% by mid-July, according to the NFU-affiliated West Sussex Growers Association (WSGA).

“That’s data from our 18 largest businesses, but it represents all sectors,” says secretary John Hall.

“The average across three weeks around the end of June to mid-July was a shortfall of 700 full-time equivalents, from seasonal manual workers to semi-skilled and skilled roles, on crop work and in packhouses.

“I’d estimate that translates to being short of more than 1,000 full-time equivalents across all our businesses. It’s about double the rate for last year, and it has gone on for much longer; it has been like this since early spring.”

The NFU is leading an initiative that, at the time of writing, is about to provide independent evidence on the labour shortage this year that is affecting the whole food supply chain (see panel, p10).

It’s likely to boil down to the combination of the UK’s new immigration system, which ended free

Recruitment, particularly for seasonal work, has been an issue for growers for a long time. But when the UK’s decision to end free movement of people from the EU coincided with Covid self-isolating rules this year, businesses across farming, growing and food supply chains found themselves unable to meet demand.

The haulage industry alone says it’s short of around 100,000 HGV drivers at a time when demand is up 120% on pre-pandemic levels. The shortage is believed to be down to qualifi ed EU personnel returning home and a backlog in HGV training and testing caused by last year’s lockdowns.

In response, NFU Vicepresident Tom Bradshaw led an emergency roundtable with businesses across the food and ornamentals supply chain, to share intelligence and coordinate a response.

“More than 40 businesses and trade bodies were present, from farmers and growers to haulage, retail and food processing and manufacturing,” says NFU chief horticulture and potatoes adviser Lee Abbey.

“It’s the fi rst time we’ve led anything like this across such a range of industries, but that’s a refl ection of the situation.”

The meeting commissioned an independent review of the challenges, which will be used to campaign for urgent measures to ensure businesses can access the people they need in both the short and longer term.

It’s due to be published at the end of August.

Norfolk fl ower grower Mark Eves joined the NFU Horticulture and Potatoes Board this year. He says he was luckier than most in terms of labour supply, as his daff odil crop was ready to pick when some European workers were still in the area. But he says some growers in the South West have left “between a quarter and a third of their crop in the fi eld”. He adds: “We were also, just, okay with our forced tulips, but by May many EU workers had gone back just, okay with our forced tulips, but by May many EU workers had gone back home and few have returned. Since then it has been increasingly diffi cult for our summer fl owers, bulb lifting and packing.

“We’ve had to increase pay well above infl ation, but even so have already decided to cut back on some lines for the future – asters for example, even though we know there is increased demand – because we’re not confi dent about getting the labour to pick them.”

He adds: “So far, I’ve not seen domestic recruitment schemes helping with either seasonal or permanent recruitment. Anyone any good has already got a job.

“Our pickers earn good money but at the end of the day we’re talking about being out in a muddy fi eld in February competing with being in a clean dry warehouse or factory. It will always be hard physical work.

“Through the lockdowns, everyone was saying how important fl owers and plants were to people’s wellbeing.

“We need the seasonal workers scheme to become permanent and there’s really no reason for ornamentals not to be part of it.”

movement of EU citizens in January, Covid-related travel restrictions, and the self-isolation rules that prevented employees from working during much of the spring and summer.

Even though the seasonal workers pilot scheme was expanded this year to 30,000 permits and two additional labour agency operators, many growers believe its announcement, just a couple of days before Christmas, came too late in the recruitment calendar. And even at 30,000 visas, it covers only about half the industry’s total seasonal labour demand.

“It’s a perfect storm that’s only made worse what we’ve been seeing for the past few years,” said NFU chief horticulture and potatoes adviser, Lee Abbey.

“Even with a full roll-out of an expanded seasonal workers scheme, which we need a decision on urgently for next year, it may not be enough on its own to meet the horticulture sector’s seasonal recruitment needs and it won’t be able to feed people through into more skilled permanent roles, in the way seasonal workers moving freely within the EU once did.

“Growers may increasingly need to look to at least some expansion of domestic recruitment to back it up, particularly if international travel continues to be diffi cult.”

On that front, last year’s Pick for Britain helped some growers, but its overall contribution was regarded as patchy. It has been replaced this year by a longer-term initiative for both edible and ornamental businesses, which has seen the NFU helping the

HR consultant

Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), though its Jobcentre Plus network, to engage more closely with growers, learn more about the seasonal and permanent jobs on offer, and to find suitable candidates through some of its existing programmes.

A mechanism by which growers can advertise both seasonal and permanent vacancies is in place and the DWP will ‘matchmake’ the grower with the appropriate job centre team.

HR consultant Melanie Tellwright grew up on a West Sussex nursery and now works with growers in the area – and she has been liaising with the local Jobcentre network on their behalf.

“It’s great to have the DWP engaging more with the industry, and we’re working with them to make sure they understand us,” she says.

“But the scheme was only introduced a few months ago, so it was really too late for this year: it’s all about next year and beyond.”

Despite the low unemployment in the area and high living costs, she believes that opportunities exist to take on more local people and says that a flexible approach will be key.

“It’s something the growers I work with are already exploring, including collaborating to offer job continuity across different crops – which we do have in West Sussex – and adapting shift patterns,” she says.

“We need to be more creative in fitting people to roles. Retirees looking for part-time work shouldn’t be

“This is new ground for us,” says Keith Johnson, employer adviser at Jobcentre Plus in Maidstone, Kent. “Up to now the horticulture industry has had its own ways to source enough labour; growers haven’t needed to work with us.”

With unemployment in his patch increasing, and likely to accelerate as furlough is phased out, Mr Johnson is looking ahead – with horticulture in mind. “I know growers need to start recruiting in autumn for the following year, so what we are doing now is really about gearing up and having things in place for that,” he says.

His role is to work with employers, learn about the industries in the area and to identify potential candidates among his jobseekers. He’s already in close touch with the regional NFU office and he spoke about the new initiative at this year’s Fruit Focus trade show.

“It was the first chance I’ve had to talk to a lot of growers,” he says. “What was striking was the real sense of community and I think that will be a big help when it comes to the kind of flexibility we may need.”

He said that the Eastern European seasonal workers’ culture, which growers have become used to, was to work really hard for what they know will be a limited period, but it’s a different picture for home-grown workers.

“For local recruitment we’re looking at people who need longer-term work and maybe to develop a career.”

Different shift patterns may help to appeal to locals who have not previously considered or been able to take up horticultural work. Fitting more closely with the school day will attract parents with school-age children for example, he suggests. He adds: “There may also be ways different growers could cooperate on a series of shorterterm contracts so employees move from crop to crop.”

Mr Johnson says he and his colleagues are trying to dispel misconceptions about horticultural jobs.

Among the existing schemes he says could help horticulture is ‘Swap’ (the sector-based work academy programme), which includes elements of pre-employment training and work experience, funded by the Skills Agency.

“You have to offer an interview at the end to anyone who is interested in pursuing the job, though there’s no obligation to employ,” he says. “But we know from other industries that it filters out those unlikely to be suitable and it could work for both seasonal or permanent roles.”

Meanwhile, Kickstart offers work experience for those under 24 and could be particularly suitable where several growers want to cooperate to fill vacancies. Mr Johnson says Kickstart often leads to apprenticeships and could be especially attractive to career-changers.

New NFU Horticulture Board member Ross Goatham is the third generation at Kent-based family tree-fruit business, AC Goatham.

“We normally rely on returnee seasonal workers from Europe for the 150 to 200 people we need for fruit thinning in June,” he says. “This year we had 70% fewer returnees.

“We think one of the reasons is a lot of those who are entitled to pre or fully-settled status haven’t realised they needed to apply for it, rather than it being granted automatically. And many who would have been entitled have not been here because of the pandemic.

“This may well become apparent to growers when the apple and pear harvest starts and the EU returnees who would normally come for that suddenly realise they can’t. I think it could lead to horror stories for some.

“We need around 750 for our harvest, but have a long-standing relationship with ProForce, which is also one of the seasonal pilot operators, who help us to source pickers.

“What’s proving a far greater issue for us is the longer-term jobs, particularly in the packhouse, which operates all year.

“The less-skilled have been coming through the seasonal pilot scheme, but getting anyone for anything more skilled – such as quality control or forklift operators – has become virtually impossible since freedom of movement ended.”

The company is establishing a ‘returnee’ system so its seasonal worker scheme employees can come back for further six-month work periods after returning home having gained some knowledge of the job during their first stint, rather than new groups having to be retrained.

He adds: “We’ve advertised locally for harvest workers for the past 10 years without much reward. But we do have to look at all the options and we’d certainly explore what the DWP scheme is offering.”

NFU Horticulture Board member

ignored: there is work they can do, especially on ornamentals nurseries.

“We do a lot of online recruitment through local Facebook groups and jobs-board sites. Word-of-mouth can also be effective – and more growers could offer incentives for employees who introduce new recruits.”

Martin Emmett, NFU Horticulture and Potatoes Board member and strategy director for Tristram Plants, says he understands why the track record for domestic recruitment means many growers remain sceptical.

“But we do need a step-change and, from the meetings we’ve had, through the West Sussex Growers Association, with our local Jobcentres I sense we are exploring more effectively ways to improve outcomes, including on the suitability of candidates,” he adds.

Every option has to be investigated, he says. In addition to wider use of apprenticeships, he points to the positive experiences some growers in the area have had recruiting from the armed forces and even those leaving prison following rehabilitation.

Being able to attract and retain more domestic workers has the potential to help, but there’s no evidence it can bring in the tens of thousands of people growers need to pick and pack all of the UK’s horticultural produce.

That’s why the NFU continues to press for a decision early this autumn to make the seasonal workers pilot scheme permanent from next year, and to extend its scope to ornamentals and to increase both the number of permits and operators.