Members help needed with survey on farm labour and Skilled Worker visa
20th Oct 2025 / By Tom Haynes
At the start of July, the government issued a Statement of Changes to the Immigration Rules, setting out reforms to the Skilled Worker visa, amongst other reforms to the immigration system.
These reforms took effect on July 22 – and will have a significant impact on the availability of labour for the pork sector.
We would like members to help us build a vital body of evidence for the Migration Advisory Committee and ministers by completing a survey.
We have to provide data and evidence of the difficulties our sector faces with trying to recruit and train members of staff domestically and the critical role overseas labour plays to complement our domestic workforce. Equally we must demonstrate the threat posed to food security, economic growth and the resilience of the sector should the government choose not to act.
- You can access the survey HERE
All information will be treated as confidential and used anonymously as part of our evidence submission to ministers and MAC.
When you submit this form, it will not automatically collect your details like name and email address unless you provide it yourself.
More information
The threshold for Skilled Worker visas has been raised from occupations at regulated qualifications framework (RQF) level 3 and above (approximately A-level skills) to occupations at RQF level 6 and above (mainly graduate professions). For the avoidance of doubt, this is the skill level of the job not the individual’s level of qualifications.
The threshold was lowered from RQF level 6 in Immigration Rules changes made in 2020, in part to help businesses adapt to the ending of free movement between the UK and EU. Since then, as set out in the Immigration White Paper, growth in visa numbers, and concerns about exploitation of overseas recruits, have been seen particularly in occupations below RQF level 6. These changes therefore lift the threshold for Skilled Workers back to RQF level 6, i.e. the level it was pre-2020.
This change means a reduction of around 180 eligible occupations, this includes but is not limited to managers and proprietors in agriculture and horticulture (occupation code : 1211), veterinary nurses (3240), farm secretaries (4215), farmers (5111), agricultural and fishing trades not elsewhere classified (5119), butchers (5431), Fishing and other elementary agriculture occupations not elsewhere classified (9119).
Where an individual has an existing Skilled Worker visa, they will continue to be eligible so long as they continue to meet the salary requirement.
Salary requirements for work visas are being raised in line with the latest Office for National Statistics data, ahead of an upcoming thorough review of salary requirements (including discounts) by the independent Migration Advisory Committee (MAC). There are no transitional arrangements relating to the updates to salary requirements.
The Immigration Salary List (ISL) contains occupations eligible for Skilled Worker visas which the MAC have identified as having labour shortages and where it is sensible to offer a discounted salary. The ISL and a new interim Temporary Shortage List provide time-limited and conditional access to the skilled worker route for occupations below the new RQF level 6 threshold, but with no ability for applicants to bring dependants or access salary and visa fee discounts. The ISL will be phased out in future and the TSL will be reviewed by the MAC.
It does not look as though any of the occupation codes that are being removed from the Skilled Worker visa have made their way over to the ISL or TSL. Regardless, the TSL is (as the name suggests) time limited and all the roles on there have removal dates which are currently all set for the end of 2026.