According to the government-commission report, the British Farm and Supermarkets can deal with the exploitation of fruits and vegetable pickers by paying their travel and visa costs.
The report launched for the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DFRA) follows the growing allegations of misconduct of migrant workers on seasonal activists visa, including an Indonesian fruit picker against the UK government for human rights violations.
Thousands of workers come to Britain every year on a six -month visa from a distance as Chile and the Philippines, and They arrive before reaching a few thousand pounds loanThey left unsafe for exploitation.
Possible policy runs counter Hard new immigration rules declared by Sir Kir Stmper It makes it difficult for workers and students to come to Britain. But this will bring the UK closer with other countries, such as the United States, where employers need to bear the cost of recruitment and travel of workers.
Currently, a handful of operators are licensed by the house office for the recruitment of farm laborers and can issue a certificate of sponsorship that can be used to secure a seasonal worker visa from the house office. But workers are left to pay for it and for the cost of a trip to Britain.
Defra commissioned by commission in ’employer payment principle’, which has been seen by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and Independent, The government proposes four alternative options, which costs recruitors, fields, retailers and consumers.
In response to this story, a DFRA spokesman said that the government has “no plans to the employer to pay the principle for the seasonal workers”, but Independent It is understood that the government will review the study and consider learning with industry partners.
In the first proposed model, recruitors must cover the costs and then take high fees to the fields for service. In the second option, recruitors will still cover the costs, but they can again apply to a government or industry fund to reimburse. In the third, the worker will cover their costs, but then the arrival of the UK will be reimbursed, and in the fourth, the costs covered by the recruiters will be fully passed in the supply chain through the fields and supermarkets to the consumers.
The study written by Consultancy Alma Economics estimates a range of £ 850–1,500 that will be paid by employers for each worker on the plan of seasonal workers.
It also speculates that fruits and vegetable growers will face the highest financial costs from one and three options. The first model can result in loss of loss in 70 out of 827 farms, compared to 43 in the second proposal, 57 for options three, and zero for the final plan.
Research estimates, consumers will pay for fruits and vegetables between one and three pens per week, which are selected under the plan. Paying the employer for recruitment will cost a total of £ 43.1 million and eliminate the loan for 18,200 workers.
Research cited a report stating that 70 percent of the workers had earned loans for coming to Britain in the scheme.
A seasonal agricultural activist, Eliz*, has been traveling from South Africa to work on British farms for many years. He often borrows about £ 2,000 from acquaintances to cover his travel and visa costs, many times an interest rates of about 20 percent are charged.
She says that the cost of travel and visa will not have to be paid, will help get out of a cycle to choose between high-onion loans, or barely eat in the whole year to save enough to spend flights in the UK.
The report, consulting with supermarkets, farmers and recruitments states that the stakeholders supported the operators to cover the cost and then pass them to the supply chain.
While the study stated that the farmers depended on the seasonal activists scheme as they believed that “UK workers often lacking skills and inspiration” was necessary to take fruits and vegetables, they protested large -scale foreign workers to cover their recruitment costs.
Many people are worried that this “activist commitment” will endanger, as the current system provides “strong incentive to work hard” to clean the loan.
However, most retail vendors were in favor of presenting the principle to pay the employer, as some scheme operators were, the report said in the report.
Meanwhile, activist representative bodies and human rights organizations welcomed the proposals, but thought that it required extensive reforms to ensure better activist welfare.
The independent anti -slavery commissioner of the government, Allenore Leone, called upon the government to work and highlighted the increasing vulnerability of these workers.
“This has an incredibly harmful effect on the victims, which can be forced to work excessive hours, stuck in debt bonding, and incredibly challenging,” he said “he said” the government needs to work now to provide more protection for seasonal laborers, risks are clear and more security measures. “
A National Farmers Association spokesman said: “NFU knows that Deefra is conducting a study, modeling the economic effects of the employer. It is part of a large agricultural field-wide discussion for seasonal activists welfare in Britain. Seasonal workers are especially important for the production of food, fruits and vegetation of Britain.
“We are ready for the publication of reviews so that we can assess full expansion.”
*The name has been changed.