For many years the UK has relied on overseas seasonal workers to assist the agricultural and food production industry during harvest season of fruit, crops and flowers, and in the run up to the Christmas season for meat producers and Christmas tree growers. While the UK was part of the EU many of these seasonal workers would come from the EU to the UK specifically for these periods.
Brexit and the end of the transition period meant that EU laws ceased to apply in the UK from 1 January 2021. One of the laws which disappeared was the right to free movement of people between the UK and the EU. With the end of free movement, the pool of available workers was drastically reduced, as workers from the EU now need a UK visa to come (which is time-consuming and expensive) and the hoped upturn in workers applying from the existing domestic workforce has not materialised due the sparse populations in rural areas, exacerbated by the physicality of the role and the demands of working outside in all weathers.
What is a Seasonal Worker visa?
To soften the blow for the agricultural and food production sectors, the UK government introduced the Seasonal Worker visa. This visa was designed to allow foreign nationals to come to the UK and work for a limited period of time. However, the process of obtaining such a visa for a worker is prescriptive, time consuming and expensive. It is also further challenged by the fact that workers cannot apply for a visa independently. Any employer wishing to hire international workers must engage with an ‘overarching body’/designated industry recruitment agent, which has been granted an immigration sponsor licence by the UK authorities.
These bodies are responsible for ensuring that the worker and UK business complies with all immigration laws and wider UK laws (such as employment, tax, and Health and Safety, for example). It is generally not possible for an individual business to hold their own Seasonal Worker sponsor licence.
Businesses must register with the overarching body and pay them a fee to obtain visa sponsorship and then ensure that the worker applies for the correct visa online.
A Seasonal Worker visa holder will only have permission to work in the job for that specific business and they are not permitted to take a permanent job in the UK or to work in a second or supplementary job. They will have access to NHS services but will not be able to access public funds in the UK. It is not possible for Seasonal Workers to bring dependant family members.
The visa can be valid for 6 months for agricultural work, or 3 months for work in the poultry industry. The application process is very particular, so businesses should familiarise themselves with the time frames to ensure they can source workers when they need them. They should especially consider the fact that the numbers of these visas are limited.
For 2026, there are 41,000 visas available in the agricultural sector, and 1,900 in the poultry production sector. This is a slight reduction from the quota that was available to UK businesses in 2025.
The UK Government visa application fee is £319, however, business will also need to consider the fees for the overarching body to provide sponsorship and any professional fees for an immigration adviser if they want to make sure that the visa application is completed and submitted correctly.
Is automation the solution?
In its announcement on 9 May 2024 on long-term certainty for food labour needs, the UK Government confirmed that it is looking to spend up to £50 million of further funding for new technology to support fully automated packhouses and more support to follow to bring robotic crop pickers on a par with human pickers in three to five years.
This announcement was made under the previous Conservative government and it remains to be seen whether the current Labour government will support this level of suggested investment.
It is heartening to see that the Government recently provided £12.6 million to UK businesses in the sector. This is made up of the Small R&D Partnership Project, where UK businesses could apply for a share of up to £7.8 million. If allocated, the funds can be used to develop new products or techniques that improve productivity, sustainability, resilience and move the sector towards net zero. The competition closed on 5 November 2025.
The remaining up to £4.8 million will be paid out to business which have successfully showcased new solutions that will address major on-farm or immediate post-farmgate challenges or opportunities. The competition closed on 3 December 2025.
How can the industry attract more UK workers?
Not all businesses who rely on seasonal workers will be able to invest in technology. They will need to continue to rely on workers to keep going. As the recruitment of foreign workers has become significantly more difficult and expensive since Brexit, UK businesses will have to look closer to home to fill their vacancies.
Issues such as a shortage of affordable accommodation, lack of transport options in rural areas, and possibly a lack of understanding the various jobs that are available make it difficult to attract workers already in the UK.
Closer collaboration between UK businesses operating in the agricultural and poultry sectors and educational establishments in terms of course content – and subsequent employment possibilities – could provide a step in the right direction.
Paying above the National Minimum Wage, offering permanent employment contracts with a guaranteed number of hours per week, and a clear outline of career progression should also be considered to attract local workers.
Migration Advisory Committee outlined steps to improve the visa route
The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) published a review of the Seasonal Worker visa route in July 2024. In it, it made five recommendations:
- Provide certainty around the future of the scheme – the Government should publish available visa numbers on an annual basis, and give notice of any reductions in numbers, tapering of numbers and when the scheme is scheduled to close. This will allow businesses to plan better for any potential further restrictions on the availability of workers.
- Allow for a more flexible visa – the Government should reduce the time a worker needs to spend outside of the UK before they can apply again from six months to three months. They should also increase the time a worker can spend in the UK under the scheme to any six-month period in each calendar year, or possibly longer to accommodate longer harvesting seasons.
- Fairer work and pay for workers – the MAC recommended that seasonal workers are guaranteed at least two months’ pay in order to cover their costs in coming to the UK. Workers are also generally enrolled in pension schemes and are typically eligible for a refund of their payments as they are in the UK for only short periods of time. The process needs to be made clearer and simpler.
- Tighten, communicate and enforce employee rights – seasonal workers are particularly susceptible to exploitation due to the nature of the work in often isolated rural areas, frequently with little or no English. The MAC acknowledged that many employers have been undertaking steps to improve the welfare of their workers. However they feel it is patchy across the sector and requires further improvements. They also pointed out that the current enforcement landscape for seasonal workers is fragmented and does not offer an adequate safeguard of seasonal worker rights. This should be amended as soon as possible.
- Give consideration to the Employer Pays Principle – Seasonal Worker visa holders currently bear the cost of both their visa and their travel to and from the UK; costs which can be considerable, and which increase the risk of debt bondage. Further work is needed to investigate how these costs might be more equitably shared along the supply chain.
Impact on communities
It remains to be seen how the Seasonal Worker visa route will develop under the Labour Government and how many, if any, of the MAC’s recommendations will be implemented.
It is likely that any changes to the scheme will impact local communities differently depending on location – those with more arable land will feel the impact of changes more keenly than more urban conurbations, for example. Any government should ensure they make use of the MAC to canvas the opinion of businesses before making any large scale changes to the scheme.
Businesses with recruitment issues around their busy seasons should get in touch with their immigration provider to see what their options are and how to ensure they can continue to run their businesses successfully.