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Seasonal workers: no halt to exploitation as visa scheme expands [1]

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Date: 2025-08 

In February 2025, the UK government announced the Seasonal Worker Scheme would be extended for a further five years.

The scheme has existed since 2019. Every year it sees tens of thousands of people working on Britain’s farms or poultry factories – businesses that would not be able to operate without migrant workers since Britain left the EU. The scheme has been expanded several times in the intervening years, from 2,500 workers in the initial pilot to 45,000 in 2025.

This latest extension was widely seen as an attempt by the Labour government to placate farmers amid a highly politicised protest over inheritance taxes. When it was announced, the head of the National Farmers Union said the five-year commitment was a “huge relief”.

But not everyone was happy.

For years, advocates and workers have spoken out about exploitation and abuse under the scheme. They’ve campaigned for significant reforms, arguing exploitation is built into the scheme’s design. High and opaque costs to the worker, visa time-limitations and restricted work options make people vulnerable to abuse in British fields.

“Workers on the scheme travel to the UK to support our horticultural industry and make sure that food goes from the fields to our shelves,” said Kate Roberts, head of policy at Focus on Labour Exploitation (FLEX). “Many leave jobs, family and take on debt during the migration process. The least we can offer these workers is the work they were promised.”

Despite dogged attempts to engage the government on the issue, almost none of the problems with the scheme have been addressed. Instead, the government has chosen to apply the scheme to ever more people, increasing the pool of workers it is making vulnerable through its immigration policies.

“More than five years after the Seasonal Worker visa scheme was piloted in the UK, a fundamental overhaul to address these structural issues is overdue,” Roberts said.

Expectation vs reality

Many workers say they arrived in the UK to find a radically different working environment to what they were expecting.

David* is from Central Asia. After he lost his job in his home country, he was recruited to work on a British produce farm in 2024.

“At first when I came here, it was very interesting. It was a new country, new experience for me,” he said. But the novelty quickly wore off. “We were very tired. You’re just working and standing, like robots.” Speaking over the phone, he said he worked 12 hours a day, six days a week and was regularly made to work on rest days as well.

Moreover, a culture of bullying, overwork and racist abuse pervaded David’s work on the farm. He said Central Asian colleagues were discriminated against, often made to clean for hours after their shifts had finished while other workers simply clocked off.

During Ramadan, when Muslims fast during the day, David asked if he and his colleagues could be allowed a short break after sundown to eat. “Fuck your Eid Mubarak” was the response, David said.

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[1] Url: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/beyond-trafficking-and-slavery/seasonal-workers-no-halt-to-exploitation-as-visa-scheme-expands-migrants-uk-farms/

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