An estimated 5,000 short term HGV Drivers from the EU are set to be granted a temporary Visa so they can start moving goods around the UK from around the second week of November. The shortfall in HGV Drivers, estimated by the Road Haulage Association (RHA) is around 100,000.
300 temporary Visas were made available immediately to EU Fuel Tanker Drivers to help with Petrol Station deliveries and those Drivers are able to remain until March 2022. 4,700 Visas have also been set aside for EU Food Haulage Drivers which will be extended by two months, lasting from late October to the end of February.
WHY THE DELAY FOR GENERAL DRIVERS?
The Government needs time to officially enact the Visa Scheme then recruit Logistics and Haulage companies like AMCO to recruit and on-board the Drivers; this can take a minimum of six weeks from now, however, with willing participation and action from Logistics businesses like AMCO, reduces the time frame dramatically from the three months suggested by PM Boris Johnson.
In order to enact the Visas, a Statutory Instrument (SIs) to allow the Visas is not due to be laid in Parliament until 15th October, following the Conservative Party Conference. (SIs) are a form of legislation which allow the provisions of an Act of Parliament to be subsequently brought into force or altered without Parliament having to pass a new Act.
THEN WHAT HAPPENS?
Once the Statutory Instrument has been passed, AMCO for example, will have to approach one of four government selected agencies to process visa applications. We think this will take another two weeks and then another week for drivers with visas to arrive in the UK and be on-boarded with us or their new employer.
AMCO and other Logistics providers have already identified and approached EU drivers still living in the UK to expedite recruitment.
The Government has stated that at present the 5,000 available driver Visas will only be valid until Christmas Eve, a view that we, at AMCO, take as short sighted by the Government and that any delay in getting the drivers recruited and on the road just fuels the Transport and Logistic industry view that the Visas should be for a minimum of 12 months and the number of Visas increased.
On top of the difficulties in recruiting drivers and the forecast shortfall in goods for the Holiday season, there is little clarity of the processes to follow to access this EU driver pool. At present the Government is refusing to publish guidance on how to go about hiring from outside the UK.
AMCO, AHEAD OF THE CURVE WITH TECHNOLOGY & LOCATIONS
AMCO may be slightly ahead of the game having invested in additional sophisticated technology for managing vehicles and optimising routes and drivers’ hours and if the Visa Scheme goes ahead, they can look to recruit through existing UK contacts and operations in AMCO Dunkirk, Poland and Hungary.