The government refused to heed calls from logistics and retail companies for temporary visas to be granted to help ease the shortage of delivery drivers.
Trade Body Logistics UK says that there is a shortage of 90,000 truck drivers. This has contributed to supply chain disruption – food chains such as McDonald’s, KFC and Greggs all faced recent disruption due to issues with deliveries.
The British Retail Consortium (BRC) asked the government to grant temporary visas for EU truck drivers to address supply issues, but the business ministry said that it did not expect that the post-Brexit visa rules will change.
How has Brexit created supply chain disruptions?
The post-Brexit immigration rules mean workers from the European Union are required to hold either a Temporary Worker Visa or a Skilled Worker Visa to be allowed to work in the UK. However, such visas are subject to minimum salary requirements – and these are higher than the average salaries in the logistics and hospitality sectors.
In a letter to the Business Secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, Logistics UK and the BRC said that the shortage of HGV drivers is putting unsustainable pressure on supply chains:
“There was a shortage of HGV drivers before the pandemic and Brexit, but these two events have exacerbated the situation. The pandemic prevented driver training and testing from taking place for more than 12 months, and an estimated 25,000 EU drivers went home during the pandemic, after the Brexit transition period.”
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