Government have recently issued a response to John Shropshire’s independent review into labour shortages in the food supply chain.  

In response to the recommendations in the review, Defra have now confirmed that new measures will be implemented to support the industry, including:  

• An extension to the seasonal worker visa route until 2029. 43,000 visas will be available to the horticulture sector in 2025, plus 2,000 visas for poultry. Further information on the number of visas available for 2026 to 2029 will be released later this year. 
• Up to £50 million of further funding for new technology to support fully automated packhouses. 
• More support to bring robotic crop pickers on a par with human pickers in 3-5 years. 
• The creation of a strategy to enhance skills provision and attract domestic workers.  

The independent review can be accessed here and the Government response here 

The Department for Business and trade (DBT) have recently published updated guidance in relation to UK Trade Tariff duty suspensions and autonomous tariff quotas (ATQs).  

Duty suspensions are designed to help UK and Crown Dependency (Guernsey, the Isle of Man and Jersey) businesses remain competitive in the global marketplace. They do this by suspending import duties on certain goods, normally those used in domestic production.  

These suspensions do not apply to other duties that may be chargeable like VAT or trade remedies duty, such as anti-dumping duty. 

Duty suspensions allow unlimited quantities to be imported into the UK at a reduced tariff rate. Autonomous tariff quotas (ATQs) allow limited quantities to be imported at a reduced rate. 

The guidance has been updated to include a new 2024 tariff suspensions window, which runs until 3rd July 2024.  

Further information can be found here