Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether regulations or guidelines are in place to ensure that agricultural workers on the Seasonal Worker visa (a) are not expected to work in unsafe or dangerous conditions during extreme temperatures and (b) do not suffer from a loss of earnings in the event that weather extremes prevent them from working.

Agricultural workers on the Seasonal Worker visa enjoy the same rights and protections as settled workers in the UK.

Sponsors, and by extension the growers hosting these workers, also have a duty of care to their workers and are expected to comply with the sponsor guidance which requires them to give workers time off, proper breaks, and to ensure the workers’ work environment is safe and complies with relevant Health and Safety requirements. Non-compliance with the guidance could result in the revocation of their sponsor license.