By focusing on academic qualifications, the new immigration policy takes a narrow focus on skills, although we welcome the Government’s decision to reduce the threshold to the equivalent of A-levels or Scottish Highers (RQF3/SCQF6). We are concerned that this policy will pose challenges for food manufacturers and others in the food supply chain who use lower skilled or lower paid staff, especially because of the limited time to prepare, exacerbated by the covid-19 pandemic, and the absence of a transition period (as proposed in the superseded 2018 White Paper). However, the anticipated rise in UK unemployment next year might provide opportunities for the sector to encourage people to change careers—the food supply chain can do more to encourage this by making itself more attractive to potential employees. The Government can also take steps to support the sector to encourage UK workers and the unemployed to consider roles in food production and to re-train or re-skill. The Union Learning Fund—for which Government funding will cease in 2021— has been brought up as an example of how this could be achieved. As data for the food and drink manufacturing sector demonstrates, businesses were able to source almost all their workers domestically prior to the eastern expansion of the EU in