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The horticulture sector has been delivered another blow after it emerged a second seasonal worker provider has been removed from the Home Office register.

Herefordshire-based company Fruitful Jobs had been a member of the SAWS scheme until 2013 and has subsequently been recognised as a provider of seasonal workers by subsequent governments.

It supplies workers across multiple sectors, including soft fruit, food processing, poultry, meat and viticulture.

However, industry retail magazineÌýThe GrocerÌýreported last week that the company, which supplies workers into the horticulture market, was no longer present on the Home Office list of approved labour suppliers.

The company was approached for comment and said it was a ‘temporary suspension’. The Home Office said it could not discuss individual cases.

However, a statement on the homepage of Fruitful Job’s website features a prominent ‘update’ that notes: ‘Fruitful Jobs Ltd does not recruit in Nepal - anyone claiming they work with us in Nepal is doing so without our permission. Please do not pay any company or individual claiming they can get you a job or visa for the UK via Fruitful Jobs Ltd.’

The ‘suspension’ follows the removal of AG Recruitment from the Home Office list in February.

Last year, the company brought 1,450 workers from Indonesia to pick fruit and berries in the UK. Reports suggested the license had been revoked owing to the number of workers who had gone ‘underground’ and remained in the UK.

Others had racked up huge debts to unlicensed brokers as they arrived late in the season and there was not sufficient work available.

The news will come as a further setback to the horticulture sector which has been severely impacted by the high cost of energy.

It is also desperate to avoid a repeat of the past two years which, according to an NFU survey in 2022 indicated that £22 million worth of fruit and vegetables has been wasted directly because of workforce shortages in the first half of the year alone.

NFU Deputy President Tom Bradshaw said it was a crucial time in the recruitment calendar and any delays were a cause for concern.

“We must remember that these workers are the backbone of the horticultural sector and many of them are highly professional and have been coming back to the same UK farms for many years.Ìý

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“We are engaging with government to ensure the process is handled fairly and efficiently and that the availability of workers in 2023 is not undermined.”