Seasonal fruit pickers hired from Nepal to work on British farms are now being left in thousands of pounds worth of debt as their six month job expectation has been cut short.
Recruited under the government’s seasonal worker scheme, the workers have been told less than two months since arriving in the UK that they would have to return home, according to documents seen by the Observer.
To commit to the work many had quit their jobs to make the trip to the UK, which has now left them in thousands of pounds of debt to cover fees such as flights.
Some of these workers who have been told to leave were working at a farm in Kent which according to reporting by The Guardian, has supplied supermarkets including Tesco, Co-op and M&S.
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AG Recruitment, which is one of the four official operators of the seasonal worker scheme for the horticulture sector, has said that while it intended to provide six months of work, with this being seasonal, it could not be guaranteed and that workers had been informed of this prior to arriving in the UK.
It said that the war in Ukraine delaying visas and the UK’s summer drought which has negatively affected crops are two of the reasons for the lack of work available.
However, the government scheme which does not allow work for more than six months, the possibility to claim benefits or for workers to bring their families, has since brought about concerns of their treatment.
Earlier this year, reports alleged some workers were being charged recruitment fees by third-party job brokers, with some trapped in debt bondage.
Focus on Labour Exploitation head of policy, Kate Roberts told The Guardian: “It is not fair to expect them to pay out the financial costs of migrating without any real guarantees of work during the six months they are permitted to work in the UK.
“There must be protection against these gaps in the scheme.”
Rights experts are now looking to see better protection for seasonal workers such as guaranteed hours and the ability to search for other work if a farm role in no longer possible.
