In a bid to tackle the country’s food and haulage supply chain crisis, the UK government has added 10,500 visas to the nation’s existing visa scheme until December,2021.
According to a government statement,5,000 0f the visas are for Heavy Goods Vehicle(HGV)drivers while the remaining 5,500 are for poultry workers.
The UK government had previously ruled out issuing visas to foreign workers to address worker shortages in the food and haulage sector, but latest reports suggests a U-turn.
Worker shortages are a growing problem in the UK with over 1 million job vacancies declared in the months of June to August alone, according to the Office for National Statistics.
The shortage of truck drivers in the UK has been worsened by the Covid-19 pandemic and Brexit, which resulted in tens of thousands of EU nationals leaving their trucking jobs to go back to their home country.
The UK’s Road Haulage Association (RHA) says Britain needs 100,000 more drivers to meet national demand.
