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(CNN) -
Up to 10,500 truck drivers and workers in the poultry industry will receive temporary visas in the UK to avoid disrupting the supply chain before the Christmas holidays, the government said in a statement.
The UK government had previously ruled out granting visas to foreign workers, but reports on Saturday suggested ministers were planning to flip the provision.
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According to the government statement, 5,000 heavy vehicle drivers and 5,500 poultry workers were added to the existing visa scheme through Christmas 2021 "to ease supply chain pressures in the food and transportation industries during the exceptional circumstances of this. anus".
Up to 4,000 people will be trained as new HGV drivers "to help address the skilled labor shortage and support more people to start their careers in the logistics industry," and nearly a million letters will be sent to all drivers with a heavy vehicle license, "encouraging them to return to the sector," the government said.
A worker shortage is a growing problem in Britain, which posted a record one million job openings between June and August, according to the Office for National Statistics.
The truck driver shortage has been exacerbated by the pandemic and Brexit, which has caused tens of thousands of European Union citizens to leave their jobs in the UK.
Several sectors have been affected by the shortage of truckers, including the distribution of food and fuel.
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UK motorists were urged not to panic fuel purchases after a shortage of truckers forced some filling stations to close and long lines at others in recent days.
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Labor shortage
The UK Road Transport Association (RHA) states that Britain needs 100,000 more drivers to meet demand.
The driver shortage has been caused in part by Brexit and Covid-19, as well as the loss of about a year of driver training and exams.
"This administration continues to do everything it can to help the transportation and food industries address the shortage of heavy vehicle drivers," Transportation Secretary Grant Shapps said in the statement.
Shapps called on the industry to do its part "by maintaining working conditions and well-deserved increases in wages so that companies can retain new drivers."
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"After 18 very difficult months, I know how important this Christmas is to all of us and that is why we are taking these steps as soon as possible to ensure that preparations continue to run their course," he added.
Food and Beverage Federation director Ian Wright said his organization welcomed the government's "pragmatic decision" to temporarily add heavy vehicle drivers and poultry workers to the visa regime.
"This is something that UK food and drink manufacturers have asked for over the past few months ... to ease some of the pressure that labor shortages have put on the food supply chain," Wright said in a statement to CNN.
"This is a start, but we need the government to continue to collaborate with the industry and look for additional long-term solutions."
But others, such as Andrew Opie, director of the British Retail Consortium, said the 5,000 visa limit for heavy vehicles would do "little to alleviate the current deficit," according to local media.
- Hannah Ryan, Hanna Ziady and Chris Liakos contributed to this report.
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