Farmers encouraged to complete labour absence survey
© Tim Scrivener Farmers are being asked to complete a Defra survey daily to show the impact of labour shortages on farm and in the supply chain.
The survey, Labour absences in water, waste, food and veterinary medicine sectors, has been moved from a weekly to a daily basis due to rapidly increasing case numbers of the Omicron variant.
The survey has been kept short and should take less than three minutes to complete, according to the website.
See also: Why staff leave farming businesses and how to keep them
Both the NFU and National Pig Association have been signposting farmers to complete the online survey.
An NFU spokesperson said: “The NFU is asking members to complete the survey to help ensure that Defra has regular, reliable information outlining the impact of current labour shortages and workforce absences across all sectors of farming, and the wider supply chain.”
Completing the survey
Labour absences in water, waste, food and veterinary medicine sectors
Changes to sick pay
The period of sickness absence after which an employee is required to obtain a sick note from a GP has been extended from seven days to 28 days.
This is a short-term extension from 10 December and is expected to remain in place until 27 January 2022.
The measures have been introduced to ease the strain on doctors’ surgeries and free up time for GPs during the vaccine rollout.