People on benefits

27 August 2010

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Pick your own... According to government advisers people on benefits should be encouraged to take up summer work picking fruit and vegetables. The Fruit and Vegetable Task Force warned of an impending shortage of labour as a result and are therefore calling for changes to be made to the current benefit system so that the unemployed are guaranteed a rise in income of they take a job.

 The task Force is also lobbying the government to extend the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme (SAWS). This scheme currently allows in students from Bulgaria and Romania however an extension is sought to encompass other states outside the European Union such as China and India.However most of the existing fruit and vegetable picking workforce are immigrant travellers from primarily Eastern Europe.  Whereas in the distant past most of the fruit and vegetables grown in Britain were picked by British people. Nowadays this is not the case as most people today do not possess manual labour skills to carry out such a task. Perhaps this could be put down to people setting their sights higher and instead going in pursuit of higher paid and higher skilled occupations. The UK is currently relying on Easter European workers to pick fruits such strawberries and raspberries with tens of thousands needed every year otherwise fruit and vegetables are at risk of rotting.

 Although now as the economy picks up it is feared that many of these workers will go to other countries in Europe or take work in better paid industries such as construction.

Marion Regan, a berry farmer who contributed to the report, pointed out there were shortages in 2007/08 when the falling pound and improved economic prospects in Eastern Europe meant many workers stayed at home. She said farmers fear a similar effect when the economy recovers next year. She said workers from the UK will be needed to "top up" immigrant labour and also called for more funding to teach young people horticultural skills. "More must be done to encourage British citizens to undertake seasonal work. This could include adapting the welfare system to encourage those in receipt of benefits to respond to growers' need for short term labour as a positive step towards leaving the benefits system, without financial undue disincentives," she said.

Interestingly the figures revealed by  Employment Minister Chris Grayling, uncovers the startling reality.  The figures published by the Office of National Statistics through the Department of Work and Pensions show the number of people currently receiving benefits totals 5 million,  thus highlighting the need for a radical overhaul of the British Welfare system. The other perhaps shocking statistic that was  also uncovered from the same sources was that there are 264,000  households in the UK where no one has ever worked. This further illustrates the indictment that has become deeply entrenched in some parts of our society.

One wonders whether it is perhaps naïve to suggest that this scheme of getting people out into the great outdoors to pick fruit is maybe a sticking plaster solution to a huge problem or whether indeed it can achieve what it has set out to do? – get people back into work and as a result earning money in order to give them a sense of pride and belonging to society. However will this be case or will the assistance offered to them be shunned in favour of something more lucrative that may take time to come along?

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