Farmers and growers, as well as other businesses across the food and drink supply chain, are experiencing severe labour shortages that are already impacting the UK’s food production, processing and supply capacity, resulting in empty supermarket shelves and reduced menus in some of our leading restaurants.
The NFU, alongside a number of other influential organisations from across the supply chain such as UK Hospitality, the Food and Drink Federation and Road Haulage Association, have united in their asks to government – the most immediate being the introduction of a 12-month Covid Recovery Visa to ensure the supply chain can function in the short term.
A shortage of workers is impacting the supply chain right now, so we are asking MPs to support our ask to government to introduce this 12-month Covid Recovery Visa. Longer term we also need the government to work across departments to put our supply chain on a stable footing. A report highlighting these issues - ‘Establishing the labour availability issues of the UK Food and Drink Sector’, is available here.
Email your MP now to make sure we can keep our food and drink supply moving.