Foodservice Footprint P16-17 Food groups warn of price hikes from migrant curbs Foodservice News and Information Out of Home sector news  news-email

Food groups warn of price hikes from migrant curbs

Proposals to restrict the number of EU migrants entering the UK after Brexit could increase the cost of food and drink in the long-term, food industry representatives have warned.

This week the government’s Migration Advisory Committee published a report in which it recommended that EU citizens should not be given preferential access to UK jobs. It argued that a future immigration policy should favour higher-skilled labour while restricting access for low-skilled workers.

The Committee also rejected the idea of an explicit work migration route for low-skilled workers with the possible exception of a seasonal agricultural workers schemes.

The food industry has traditionally been heavily reliant on EU migrant labour with the majority working in lower-skilled roles. Around 120,000 EU nationals are employed in food manufacturing and they also account for 12% of the total hospitality workforce.

The Committee is proposing the abolition of the Tier 2 cap for workers earning over £30,000 to attract more medium and higher-skilled workers to the UK. This would exclude 90% of current hospitality jobs.

The hospitality sector is already facing a worker shortage due to a predicted reduction of 200,000 by 2020 in the number of 18-24 year olds who were born in the UK. Young workers currently make up half the hospitality workforce. UKHospitality chief executive Kate Nicholls wrote on Twitter: “With almost full employment and fewer UK born young people, unless we have a radically different visa regime to now, we simply will not have the staff. This means consumers will pay the price.”

The Food and Drink Federation (FDF) argued that any new system that constricts and constrains businesses’ ability to grow or to deal with changing consumer demand would do nothing to improve wage growth and may increase the cost of food and drink in the long-term. “It is essential that government prioritises migration in EU negotiations to ensure UK food and drink manufacturers have access to the employees they need at all skill levels,” said FDF chief executive Ian Wright.