SAWS: The impact of EU accession

Over the next few weeks work permits (UK) will announce those companies/farms who have been awarded operator status for the SAWS program. These operators will be able to run the scheme from 1st Jan 2004. Most of the rules surrounding the scheme will rem ain the same with only a few changes to applicant criteria, for instance the scheme no longer has an upper age limit and applicants are able to partake in the scheme more than once. The Home Office decided all operators must pay £12 for every person accepted onto the scheme from the 13th October 2003 , covering the full cost of the scheme and saving the taxpayer in the region of £300,000 over 2004.
On the 1st May 2004 10 countries are due to acceed to the EU and the nationals of these states will gain the same full rights to work in the UK as existing EU citizens. Many of these states are significant source countries for SAWS paticipants and therefore from May 2004 nationals of these following coutries will not need to ente the UK under the SAWS scheme to work:
Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia

It is difficult to predic what impact the EU accession will have on the SAWS scheme. With such an increase in the free movement of labour in an expanded EU (the combined population of these ten countries is in excess of 74.95 million) the demand from growers may diminish. It is unclear how easy it will be for people from these countries to enter the EU on the 1st May and legally work. It is likely that some experience SAWS operators will choose to also help workers from these countries to find work in the UK, they may choose to do this as an introductory agency where the employment of the individual is the responsibility of the place they work and the agency just charges a fee. Or they may take on a recruitment company role where they take on the employment of the worker and invoice the grower accordingly.

It is important for growers to remember that any employee they take on from one of these ten countries does not need to abide by the same legislation as the SAWS students, in the event that the worker is unhappy they can leave and seek alternative work else where, or they may find alternative work before they arrive and leave growers short handed. Over the last few years the western influence on many of the countries targeted for SAWS applicants has increased (not least because of their impending accession to the EU0. The original success of the SAWS scheme was the hard working attitude of the young students, keen to work long hours in often difficult conditions. There is a possibility that a work ethic more akin to Westerners will occur in those workers who will be able to work anywhere in the EU. (The very reason the SAWS scheme was introduced was that there were not enough people in the UK that wanted to do manual agricultural work).

If growers wish to use labour from any of these ten countries they do not have to go through one of the operators to get access to it, you may wish to make use of the Free website being offered to growers by Well-Pict European to advertise your own vacancies. Or, if you don't want to deal with all the emails, calls and hassle then let Fruitful Jobs manage it for you.

If you have any further queries or questions about your labour needs for 2004 contact Fruitful jobs on infofruitfuljobs.com or call Rachel on 077400 865 55.

Autumn 2003