In this event, we would complete the translation, certify it before a solicitor or a notary and post it to you so you can obtain an apostille directly from the Legalisation Office to speed up the process and save on costs. The Seasonal Worker Visa that seasonal workers apply for when wanting to participate in the SWS. Raising complaints should be simple, and sponsor guidance sets out the need to ensure workers know how to and are able to report a concern. As per scheme operator guidance, when issues impacting the safety or wellbeing of a worker are identified, operators need to remedy the issue immediately or transfer the worker. Many employers felt overall that organisational issues occurring on the SWS were rooted in a lack of understanding between Home Office and seasonal sectors.
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We share these concerns and suggest government should facilitate the rapid transfer of these contracts to another scheme operator. Employers and representative bodies we have spoken to suggested that businesses did not have the capacity to pay further costs. The NFU reported to our CfE that in an internal survey 32% of responding members would consider subsiding accommodation, and 28% would consider paying visa costs if necessary to ensure continued access to Seasonal Workers.
Exploring specific welfare factors
- Our certified translations are accepted by the UK Home Office, Department for Education, Passport Office, Department for Science, Innovation & Technology and the Department of Health & Social Care.
- Tax refunds can only be processed after employment has ended and we are aware that seasonal workers are sometimes paying high commissions to recover their refund.
- For example, this certification may need an apostille from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to be officially validated.
- As discussed in Chapter 2, there is no English language requirement on this scheme although some scheme operators have their own rules around language (for example requiring Russian) to facilitate informed recruitment.
- While only larger employer organisations will be paying this cost, some employers said they were unable to access the levy.
If you intend to use your documents abroad, your documents may require an official apostille. For example, this certification may need an apostille from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to be officially validated. A legalised, or Apostilled, translation is one that has been ‘legalised’ by the Government Ministry. This makes your translation accepted in foreign countries that are part of the Hague Convention. We also handle the translation of financial reports, tax returns and audio recordings for court, driving licences, adoption papers, military service books, asylum applications and official paperwork for naturalisation, citizenship and other purposes, from and into Russian.
The fall in EU workers is offset by a relative rise in the number of non-EU and UK nationals working within the sector. Looking at seasonal workers specifically, based on a survey of growers, the Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (Defra) estimated that in 2022, 87% of seasonal workers not recruited through the visa were EU settled status workers, with this falling to 79% in 2023. The Seasonal Worker Scheme was closed in 2014 following MAC advice that EU expansion was likely to provide sufficient seasonal labour in the short term, and that continuance would representpreferential treatment for the horticulture sector. After the UK’s vote to leave the European Union in 2016 and in response to concerns within the farming industry in anticipation of the ending of FoM, in 2018 the previous government announced a pilot scheme to bring 2,500 workers from outside the EEA to work on UK farms for up to 6 months. A guaranteed number of weeks’ work – the Home Office has recently clarified that employers are required to pay workers a minimum of 32 hours a week at the National Living Wage for every week they are in the UK, regardless of whether work is available.
If they are not then the accommodation charge must be decreased, workers’ base pay increased, or additional items not charged for. Scheme operators are allocated a share of the overall Seasonal Worker quota (for 2024 most horticulture scheme operators received 7,500 each and 1,000 each for the 2 scheme operators recruiting for poultry), but in previous years this has varied. Operators entering the SWS for the first time will typically be given a smaller allocation. This represents their individual ceiling number of Certificates of Sponsorship (CoS) when the overall yearly quota is opened.
GLAA is also responsible for communicating with the relevant authorities in countries of origin and working with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) to ensure understanding of local requirements and to raise awareness of licensing. Workers are responsible for paying their own visa application and flight costs, and often onwards travel from the airport to their workplace if this is not provided by the employer. The cost of the SWV is currently £298, more than the £137 currently estimated as the unit cost for processing in Home Office visa fees transparency data. The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) estimated the total cost for a Kyrgyz national to come to the UK to work on the SWS at between £914-£1,839 for 2022 in their response to our CfE [footnote 3].
If you need any additional certification this needs to be discussed before the order is placed. We can arrange for a translation to be signed by a solicitor or we can provide an apostille for a translation. The translation will be proof read and a cover sheet prepared confirming the accuracy of the document.
Whilst we have argued that poor conditions discourage UK workers from undertaking seasonal work, this in itself is not a sufficient precondition for favoured access to the immigration system. In general, we would expect that, in response to workers’ reluctance to undertake seasonal work, employers should increase wage rates/benefits to a point where workers would be willing to work in these roles.
Russian Translation have found some evidence that there is limited scope within the sector for pay increases that would be significant enough to encourage domestic participation in seasonal work.