
Government exploring making farms and supermarkets pay to bring foreign farm workers to the UK
The report, undertaken for the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra), follows growing allegations of mistreatment of migrant workers on the seasonal worker visa, including a legal challenge brought by an Indonesian fruit picker against the UK government for human rights breaches.
Tens of thousands of workers come to the UK every year on a six-month visa from as far as Chile and the Philippines, and some accrue thousands of pounds of debt before they arrive, leaving them vulnerable to exploitation.
The potential policy runs counter to tough new immigration rules announced by Sir Keir Starmer that make it harder for workers and students to come to Britain. But it would bring the UK closer in line with other countries, such as the United States, where employers are required to bear the costs of workers' recruitment and travel.
Currently, a handful of operators are licensed by the Home Office to recruit farm labourers and can issue a certificate of sponsorship that can be used to secure a seasonal worker visa from the Home Office. But the workers are left to pay for it and for the cost of travel to the UK.
Commissioned by Defra the study into the 'Employer Pays Principle', seen by The Bureau of Investigative Journalism and The Independent, proposes four alternative options to government, which would see recruiters, farms, retailers and consumers bear the costs instead.
In response to this story, a Defra spokesperson said the government 'has no plans to impose the Employer Pays Principle for seasonal workers', but The Independent understands the government will review the study and consider learnings alongside industry partners.
In the first proposed model, recruiters would have to cover the costs upfront and would then charge farms higher fees for the service. In the second option, recruiters would still cover the costs, but they could then apply to a government or industry fund to be reimbursed. In the third, the worker would cover their costs, but then be reimbursed on arrival to the UK. In the fourth, the costs covered by the recruiters would be passed on in full down the supply chain, via farms and supermarkets, to consumers.
The study, written by consultancy Alma Economics, estimates a range of £850-£1,500 that would be paid by employers for each worker on the seasonal workers' scheme.
It also estimates fruit and vegetable growers will face the highest financial cost from options one and three. The first model could result in 70 out of 827 farms experiencing losses, compared to 43 in the second proposal, 57 for option three, and zero for the final scheme.
Consumers would pay between one and three pence per week more for fruit and vegetables picked under the scheme, the research estimates. Making the employer pay for the recruitment would cost £43.1m in total and eliminate debt for 18,200 workers.
The research cites a report which said 70 per cent of workers on the scheme had accrued debt to come to the UK.
One seasonal farm worker, Elize*, has been travelling from South Africa to work on British farms for several years. She has often had to borrow nearly £2,000 from acquaintances to cover her travel and visa costs, at times being charged interest rates of around 20 per cent.
She says not having to pay travel and visa costs would help her get out of a cycle of having to choose between taking on high-interest loans or barely eating throughout the year in order to save enough to afford flights to the UK.
The report, which consulted supermarkets, farmers and recruiters, said that stakeholders supported making operators cover the costs and then pass them down the supply chain.
While the study said farmers were reliant on the seasonal worker scheme because they believed 'UK workers often lack the skills and motivation' needed to pick fruit and vegetables, they largely opposed overseas workers having their recruitment costs covered.
Many worried it would threaten 'worker commitment', since the current system provides 'strong incentives to work hard' to clear debts.
However, most retailers were in favour of introducing the employer pays principle, as were some scheme operators, the report said.
Meanwhile, worker representative bodies and human rights organisations welcomed the proposals but thought wider reforms were needed to ensure it improved worker welfare.
Eleanor Lyons, the government's independent anti-slavery commissioner, called on the government to act and highlighted the increased vulnerability of these workers.
'This has an incredibly detrimental impact on the victims who can be forced to work excessive hours, trapped in debt bondage, and in incredibly challenging conditions,' she said. 'The government needs to act now to provide more protection for seasonal workers; the risks to them are clear and there must be more safeguards.'
A National Farmers Union spokesperson said: 'The NFU is aware that Defra is conducting a study modelling the economic impacts of the Employer Pays Principle. This is part of a larger agriculture sector-wide ongoing discussion on enhancements to seasonal worker welfare in the UK. Seasonal workers are of the utmost importance to the production of UK food, fruit and vegetables in particular.
'We look forward to the publication of the review so we can assess the detail in full.'
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


The Independent
23 minutes ago
- The Independent
Anti-JD Vance van tours Cotswolds while US Vice President stays in village
An anti- JD Vance van, displaying a doctored image of the US vice president, has been driven around Charlbury in the Cotswolds. The vehicle's appearance coincides with reports that JD Vance and his family are currently holidaying in the village. Political campaign group Everyone Hates Elon shared footage of the van on Tuesday, 12 August 2025. The group stated their action was a challenge to Vance's previous comments on free speech in the UK, referencing an unconfirmed claim that the image led to a tourist being banned from the US. Watch the video in full above.


Daily Mail
23 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Fresh fears Britain is a 'dumping ground for slave-made goods' as new air cargo routes open between China's Xinjiang region and UK
Fresh fears have been raised about Britain becoming a 'dumping ground' for slave-made goods following an expansion of air cargo routes from China 's Xinjiang region. An analysis of air freight data showed routes are rapidly expanding between Xinjiang and more than a dozen European cities, including in the UK. Xinjiang is where more than a million members of the Uighurs, a Muslim community, have been detained in camps and prisons, according to human rights groups. There have also been mounting allegations of Uighurs being used as slave labour in the northwest region as part of human rights violations sanctioned by Beijing. Research by the Uighur Human Rights Project (UHRP), found - since June last year - nine cargo companies have launch new air freight routes between Xinjiang and cities across the EU, UK and Switzerland. Their analysis of historical cargo flight data showed the emergence of entirely new direct cargo routes - beginning last summer - between Xinjiang and London, Bournemouth and Cardiff. The report found, as of May 2025, there are upwards of 40 flights carrying goods from Xinjiang to Europe weekly. It also stated there were several other indirect, sporadic cargo flights. The UHRP said the new cargo routes were 'creating a direct trade corridor from a region where the Chinese government is perpetrating genocide and atrocity crimes, including forced labour'. It added: 'The rapid expansion of air cargo routes between the Uighur region and Europe poses a growing threat to the integrity of EU and UK supply chains.' Lord Alton, a crossbench peer and chair of Parliament's Joint Committee on Human Rights, told Politico he was 'deeply concerned' by the findings. His committee has previously raised fears about Britain becoming a 'dumping ground' for goods made with slave labour and urged tougher Government action. Luke de Pulford, of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, said: 'Since the US passed laws preventing Uighur slave-made products from being sold into America, Beijing has been scrambling to dump them elsewhere. 'Regrettably, despite the UK's stated desire to stamp out slavery, we are becoming a destination for slave-made goods. 'The Government must impose import restrictions on goods from Xinjiang. The risk of sourcing goods produced through forced labour is simply too high.' Sian Lea, head of UK and European advocacy at Anti-Slavery International, said: 'We have to presume all products made in the Uighur region are made with forced labour.' A spokesperson for China's embassy in London said: 'The allegation of 'forced labor' in Xinjiang is a 'lie of the century' concocted by anti-China elements to smear China. They insisted 'there's no 'forced labor' in Xinjiang' and that the UHRP's report is 'completely false'. 'No amount of slander or defamation can change the fact that Xinjiang's products are high-quality and widely welcomed,' the spokesperson added. 'Nor can it obscure the region's steady economic and social progress.'


Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
Cheap drones are devastating Putin's troops, but Britain shouldn't ditch hi-tech kit yet
If we look elsewhere for examples, the recent war between Israel and Iran saw the former inflict devastating damage on the latter predominantly through modern combat aircraft and a variety of precision weapons, complemented by smaller drones. And the air defence of Israel against ballistic missiles necessitated the use of an expensive but effective layered system of missiles. European militaries actually have some significant advantages over Russia in their supposedly 'legacy' systems, especially in combat aircraft and precision strike munitions. The problem is that they don't have enough, unless they pool those capabilities, and in many cases they have so far failed to effectively equip them with ammunition and spare part stockpiles. Solving the personnel retention problem in European militaries is as important as experimenting with new technology. Building up industrial bases to be ready to meet expanded demand in time of war will be necessary to help Western militaries adapt to the shock of industrial war. It is in this last area that the biggest challenge of the 'high-low mix' may come, as the most complex systems will take time to replace, and in the short-term Europe will have to make do and mend with capabilities brought in through a process known as 'dissimilar rearmament'. This involves adopting stop-gap capabilities and managing with what can be acquired quickly while the broader industrial base shifts gear.