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<p>We are actively monitoring the impacts of COVID-19 and related control measures
with significant input from industry stakeholders.</p><p>We are urgently considering
which measures could be put in place to help mitigate the impact of the current situation
on access to labour in the agri-food chain.</p><p>The Chancellor has announced an
initial £330 billion will be made available to support UK businesses. He also set
out a package of temporary, timely and targeted measures to support public services,
people and businesses through this period of disruption caused by COVID-19.</p><p>After
the transition to a new immigration system in 2021, businesses will continue to be
able to rely on EU nationals living in the UK with settled or pre-settled status and
there will continue to be other flexibility in the system and the Migration Advisory
Committee (MAC) has already pointed to the estimated 170,000 recently arrived non-EU
citizens currently in low-skilled occupations.</p><p>The EU Settlement Scheme, which
opened in March 2019, has already received more than 3.3 million applications from
EU citizens who are able to stay and work in the UK – and people have until June 2021
to apply.</p><p>The government will introduce a new points based system from January
2021 which will include an employer-led route for skilled workers to enter the UK,
both EU and non-EU citizens. The skilled worker route will not be capped, there will
be no requirement to conduct a Resident Labour Market Test and the salary and skills
thresholds have been lowered.</p><p>These changes will ensure that a wide pool of
skilled workers will be able to come to the UK from anywhere in the world.</p>
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