Though the turmoil of the coronavirus pandemic is far from over, the recent launch of the “time is running out” advertising campaign from the UK Government has reignited concerns about the impact of Brexit, and specifically new immigration laws, on the employment and recruitment market.

Amid warnings that the UK’s exit from the EU’s single market could prove more damaging than the fall-out from Covid-19, employers in sectors likely to feel the biggest squeeze are already making preparations, though not necessarily in anticipation of filling the labour void. It has been reported, for example, that some food growers are already cutting back on planting and production for the 2021 season, as there’s little point in growing crops if there are not enough seasonal workers to harvest them.

According to data from the NFU and British Summer Fruits, UK residents made up just 11 per cent of the overall harvesting workforce in 2020. And of the nearly 25,000 seasonal roles filled on soft fruit farms, just 7% were taken up by first-time UK resident workers.

Hilary Roberts of Glasgow-based agency HRC Recruitment points to similar difficulties in the health and social care sectors, where there are an estimated 100,000 unfilled vacancies. While the obvious answer is to retrain those from sectors such as retail and hospitality, where the pandemic is wreaking heavy redundancy tolls, it will take a considerable amount of time to execute re-skilling on such a massive scale.

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“That is absolutely the issue at the moment,” Mr Roberts said. “In terms of the shifts we were already seeing in the market, the pandemic has speeded things up by five years.

“People thought they had some time to look at these retraining issues, but now that has shot right to the top of the agenda.”

Oscar Frith, marketing intelligence executive at jobseeker platform Jump Work, said there have been some benefits from the pandemic as the rapid adoption of virtual applications and video technology has brought speed on convenience to the hiring market.

“Unfortunately, the same can’t quite be said for Brexit,” he added. “While virtual recruitment brings accessibility, Brexit will likely bring restriction and limitation to candidates.

“Not only will there likely be less job and employment expansion in the UK from larger businesses, but they will also likely be incentivised and encouraged to hire people who already have a right to work for entry and mid-level positions.

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“Overall it seems Brexit will make navigating the labour market and finding the right role tighter and more competitive.”

A recent survey by APSCo, the Association of Professional Staffing Companies, found a majority of firms indicating they have the necessary funds to weather the downturn caused by the pandemic. However, 72% of those operating purely in the UK said they do not feel prepared for Brexit, with immigration a significant concern for economic recovery.

APSCo also warns that the post-Brexit immigration system doesn’t provide viable routes for independent European workers that many UK businesses rely upon.

“There is little to support and encourage contract workers to make a move to the UK for work after the transition period,” APSCo chief executive Ann Swain said. “Without a visa route that is geared to attract highly-skilled contractors into the UK and, with lucrative opportunities available to these individuals in other countries, few are likely to willingly tackle the UK immigration system post-transition.”

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Ms Roberts at HRC said many workers from Europe have already been moving back to their native countries. Along with healthcare, other sectors set to bear the biggest burden from this skills drain will be the construction and IT industries.

As for employers running multi-lingual customer service centres in Scotland and other parts of the UK, there will be a strengthened argument for their wholesale relocation to Europe.

Turning back to the issue of filling vacancies in the care sector, Ms Roberts added: “We are having to bring in people who would normally not ever consider working in care, but they need a job.

“For somebody coming from say the retail sector, that might not be what they want to do, but that is where the jobs are.”