What it costs to get to a British farm
The British government surveys seasonal workers themselves every year. The 2024 survey has 14,012 responses, and nine in ten came from Central Asia. Below are their answers, broken down by your country.
Based on 4 879 responses
What people paid before flying out
Everything paid before arriving in Britain: visa, travel, medical certificates — all of it together.
93.5% kept it under £999. That does not mean the money was their own.
What people paid for themselves
What had to come out of their own pocket while still at home.
Where the money came from
The same expense looks very different depending on whether it came from savings or from a debt.
38.5% arrived in debt. That means the first weeks of work go on repayment, not on earnings.
And that is not the end of it
Costs do not stop on arrival. Here is what people paid for once they were there, across all countries.
- 43.7% food
- 42.3% accommodation
- 42.3% travel to the farm
- 37.0% travel within Britain
- 29.6% tax and NI
- 27.6% bedding and basics
- 18.3% utilities
- 16.2% laundry
- 8.7% Wi-Fi
- 7.1% protective clothing
- 3.9% medical care
Tax and NI are not a rip-off — they are ordinary payroll deductions. The rest is either deducted or spent on site.
Where these numbers come from and what to trust in them
Defra survey for the 2024 season, 14 012 responses. Workers answered themselves, anonymously.
Two caveats, without which the numbers read wrongly. The questionnaire is distributed by the scheme operators, about two in five recipients answered, and all of it is self-reported. That is why we take costs, debts and deductions from it, and not the broad satisfaction measures — independent organisations publicly dispute those.
Defra, Seasonal workers survey 2024 · Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.