Recommendation 4

For those employing skilled workers, it is important to ensure that pay and conditions reflect the nature of the work in order to help attract more UK workers into the food supply chain. For example, the Government’s work to increase the number of Official Veterinarians and introduce Certification Support Officers is welcome although questions remain about whether they go far enough to meet the increased workload after the end of the transition period. Both Government and business have a role to play in ensuring that skilled work in the food supply chain is an attractive career option in order to address some sub-sectors’ reliance on migrant staff. However, in the short to medium-term the Government, in designing its policy, must also be more conscious of the time and investment it takes to train new skilled workers, especially professionals such as vets. This is particularly important when the industry faces substantial uncertainty such as new rules on trade and the impact of the pandemic. It should closely monitor the impact of the new immigration policy on the supply of skilled workers in the food supply chain and make immediate adjustments if bottlenecks emerge.