During the height of summer, Place UK employs around 700 people across its soft fruit farms and food processing facilities at Church Farm in Tunstead.

The firm produces about 2,500 tonnes of fresh fruit annually, mostly for the major supermarkets, and heavily relies on overseas workers coming to the UK on temporary Seasonal Worker visas.

Place UK, at Church Farm in Tunstead (Image: Place UK)

The scheme allows horticultural workers, such as fruit pickers, to work in the country for six months, while the visa for poultry work covers October 2 to December 31 in the same year.

Last year, the government announced a five-year extension of the scheme until the end of 2030.

But, as it stands, its continuation beyond then has not been guaranteed, with ministers wanting the agricultural sector to reduce its reliance on seasonal migrant labour - reviewing visa quotas annually - and for farms to invest in automation.

Currently, all of Place UK’s fruit pickers are either on temporary Seasonal Worker visas or EU citizens with settled status, allowing them to live and work in the UK.

Place UK produces about 2,500 tonnes of fresh fruit annually - including 1,500 tonnes of strawberries (Image: Place UK)

It has on-site accommodation for up to 600 people, complete with indoor and outdoor gyms, and sports pitches.

The company also puts on staff barbecues and trips to London, as well as providing them with access to local GP surgeries, setting them up with seasonal worker bank accounts and organising for a financial advisor to visit the site each week during the peak season.

But since the pandemic years, when people on furlough came to work on its farms, Place UK has not employed a single British fruit picker.

The Migration Advisory Committee, which advises the government on migration policy, says physically demanding, low-wage seasonal work – often at rural locations with poor transport links - can make recruiting domestic workers more challenging for employers.

Matt Smith joined Place UK as finance director three-and-a-half years ago. He and Lisa Evans, who previously served as commercial director, were appointed co-managing directors in March this year.

Matt Smith and Lisa Evans were appointed co-managing directors of Place UK at Church Farm in Tunstead in March this year (Image: Place UK)

"The cliff edge we’re facing on the farm is the fact that, at the moment, the scheme ends in 2030," he said.

"As a business, we’re proud of the returnee numbers that we get. About 85pc of the people who have stayed on site this year have worked at the farm in previous years.

"The answer from the last government and the current one is: 'Don’t worry, automation will come in and help'. But automation is not even close to being that solution for us at the moment.

"Right now, there is still not an automated harvesting robot for strawberries or raspberries that can get anywhere close to what the human pickers can do.

"Until we get to that tipping point, this is still going to be a massively labour-intensive industry."

Place UK's........

© Norwich Evening News