The subject of seasonal poultry workers from continental Europe coming to the UK for the festive period has featured in the news recently; the UK poultry industry has successfully campaigned for quarantine rules to be relaxed for such overseas workers, if they are arriving in the UK to support Christmas turkey production. We were asked to comment by the media and we responded, outlining our position and the steps we’ve taken to mitigate any possible shortfall in labour at this time. You can find this below:

“This change makes no difference to us because our plans included measures to recruit additional labour in a COVID-compliant way. Extra seasonal labour has always contributed to our Christmas production, to enable the significant increase in production volumes, and this year is no different. This year, we need approximately 650 extra people for Christmas but most of these are already in the UK. However, there are particular skills that are in short supply, like butchery, and so we have recruited an additional 75 people from continental Europe with these specific skills. These temporary colleagues arrived in the UK in October and were quarantined, on full pay, in accommodation operating at reduced capacity, with additional distancing and safety measures in place. We took this step to make sure that we had sufficient skills within our business to deliver Christmas, while still following government guidance.”