Watchdog criticises Home Office for dropping farm worker visa review

Exclusive: The government will not now publish a promised review despite calls from non-profits, academics – and its own independent inspector

Farms and other businesses previously dependent on EU staff do not appear to have increased wages to compete for workers after Brexit, the Migration Advisory Committee has said (PA Archive)

The head of the independent watchdog for immigration has criticised the Home Office for failing to publish a promised review of the UK’s seasonal worker scheme.

David Neal, the government-appointed independent chief inspector of borders and immigration (ICIBI), made the comments after The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ) discovered that the Home Office no longer plans to conduct and publish the review he called for last year.

Mr Neal, a former head of the military police, said concerns about exploitation in the seasonal workers scheme “make transparency particularly important”. “It would be very disappointing if, after accepting my recommendation in full, the Home Office did not fulfil its commitment,” he added.

The news comes after an investigation by TBIJ and The Independent uncovered evidence suggesting that workers who had travelled thousands of miles to fill gaps in the UK’s agriculture workforce were publicly humiliated, not paid for all the hours they worked, and forced to live in substandard conditions. The allegations were revealed in the Home Office’s own reports from 2021 and 2022, which it tried to prevent from being made public and were only released after a five-month battle.

The seasonal worker scheme began in 2019 to address labour shortages in the farming sector, which were expected to be worsened by Brexit. It has since expanded rapidly. There were 2,500 visas available in 2019 but up to 55,000 this year.

Allegations of mistreatment have plagued the programme. A TBIJ investigation earlier this year revealed systemic bullying and abuse of workers, issues that the government had been aware of but failed to investigate.

Mr Neal said he had long been frustrated by the Home Office’s “slow and often incomplete” implementation of his recommendations, including ones it had fully accepted.

In December 2022, the ICIBI published the findings of his inspection into the seasonal worker visa programme. The report made three recommendations, including an “overdue review” of the scheme. The Home Office agreed and anticipated the process would be completed by April 2023.

After the review failed to materialise, 10 non-profit organisations and academics wrote to the immigration minister Robert Jenrick calling for the review to be published and for fairer recruitment practices in the scheme.

Responding, Mr Jenrick said there were no plans to publish reviews of the scheme as they were of “limited value”. Earlier commitments to ensuring the scheme protected migrant workers from modern slavery, he wrote, “in no way committed the Home Office to producing ongoing reports in perpetuity”.

Caroline Robinson, founder of the Worker Support Centre, a Scotland-based organisation that provides assistance to seasonal workers, also signed the letter to Mr Jenrick. She told TBIJ she believed the Home Office wasn’t interested in understanding the risks faced by people on the scheme. The publication of a review would create an opportunity for open conversation with the government about what needs to change in order to “really safeguard workers”, she said.

James Lynch, another signatory and founding co-director of the human rights advocacy group FairSquare, said the decision to drop the review was “bizarre and deeply disappointing”.

He added: “There is an urgent need for a full and transparent review of the scheme, to identify as a priority how to make British agriculture safer for migrant workers.”

The Home Office said it has been making improvements to “stop exploitation and clamp down on poor working conditions” since the seasonal worker visa scheme was launched. It added: “We will always take decisive action where we believe abusive practices are taking place.”