By Kerry Maxwell, communications manager, British Poultry Council
When I read that the Immigration Salary Discount List (ISDL) had replaced the Shortage Occupation List (SOL), it was the tone that immediately caught my eye. Nothing says, “just change your mindset!” like flipping the narrative from ‘genuine staff shortage’ to ‘immigrant salary discount.’
Poultry is half the meat the nation eats. We understand our connection with communities across the country and, as a result, we want to build bright and inclusive pathways for our people. Job security is food security, after all. So you can only imagine my face when I read the ‘rapid review’ of this new list, knowing there is no way this is a subject anyone can quickly skim through. How we view immigration is something that must be embedded into a bigger conversation on productivity, self-sufficiency, and the long-term sustainability of industry.
We all know a secure workforce is key to a sustainable food system – one that feeds people, tackles inequalities with quality, affordable food, and ensures a liveable climate for all. Securing a pipeline of domestic talent is imperative, and BPC members continue to do all they can, from providing upskilling and training programmes to investing in automation.
But this insistence on putting ideology before outcomes means supply chains risk being hampered rather than optimised. Instead of Government looking at inputs alone (ie who is working in British poultry), maybe we should all be looking at what we want British poultry to achieve and working to allocate investment and resource accordingly – from establishing the Agriskills Taskforce outlined in BPC’s ‘2024 and Beyond,’ to ensuring the Poultry Visa Scheme is cost-effective, flexible and ultimately fit for purpose.
Taking this approach to labour recognises that all workers, adverbs and adjectives aside, play a vital role in driving the outcomes we want to see in British food production. But when phrases like ‘immigration salary discount’ enter the chat, it reduces outcomes to short-term fixes and ‘rapid reviews’ that will only go on to create more problems.
I’ve written before that a combination of a declining workforce and productivity stasis is lethal. There is no shying away from a drop in output or overall stagnation if this Government (or one in waiting) cannot capture investment in agriskills while patching up holes in immigration, especially if some form of self-sufficiency is an objective for British food and farming as part of the green transition.