Seasonal work after the war in Ukraine

Seasonal workers experience some of the harshest work conditions in the UK, confined to remote rural areas, isolated from sources of community support, and often invisible even to labour enforcement agencies. 

To prevent exploitation from occurring, we examine what the latest immigration trends tell us about workers’ countries of origin, and how labour enforcement agencies may use this intelligence to buttress their prevention and investigation work. In summary, we find two trends for 2022:

• The number of seasonal worker visas issued to Ukrainians is likely to decrease, as the war prevents men from leaving the country, and new visas give those Ukrainians who can leave the right to work in other, lower risk sectors.
• By contrast, we are already seeing an increase in the number of visas issued to workers from Central Asia, Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova, and Nepal, as farmers and recruiters turn their attention to new labour markets.

The trends in the recruitment of seasonal workers raise several important implications for labour rights.

• As visa operators look to recruit from new markets, there is a risk that workers are charged illegal recruitment fees from local agents who claim to operate for, but without real scrutiny from, UK regulated firms.
• Particularities of language, social media use, but also taboos around reporting may make it harder for workers to report exploitation, especially when there are few community groups focused on migrants from Central Asia and Nepal.

While the data is still too recent to draw definite conclusions, labour enforcement agencies and other stakeholders engaged in the fight against exploitation could take several steps to mitigate the risks.

This includes researching the new countries of origin, particularly the landscape of recruitment; embedding origin country languages in frontline teams; and making an effort to reach out to workers.