No port or airport in the UK has a full complement of border staff, with overall numbers one-third below what they should be, unions have warned.
The figures emerged as travellers braced for a chaotic weekend with large numbers of Britons returning from half-term holidays in the wake of long delays and queues earlier in the week.
Lucy Moreton, professional officer at the ISU border services union, said that numbers meant it was not possible to keep ports and airports queue-free – and Border Force was facing demands from government to cut staffing further.
But she dismissed calls from Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary for the army to be called in to clear the chaos, saying: “They are a brilliant resource and they are very very skilled at what they do, but that’s not necessarily either manning a border or doing check-in or baggage handling.”
With job vacancies at a high level across the country, she said that low pay and antisocial hours made the Border Force uncompetitive in recruiting staff, compared with jobs like delivery driving.
Ms Moreton told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the issues being faced by travellers were caused by shortcomings in port and airport operations, rather than immigration staff.
But she added: “Border Force also is understaffed. And there are likely to be issues at some locations and at busy times with getting through the border as well.
“We’re about a third under where we need to be nationally so that no port or airport has sufficient staff.
“We can’t staff to keep the border 100 per cent queue-free 100 per cent of the time. That’s too expensive.
“And of course we now have government’s call to reduce our number still further down to 2016 levels. But of course travel is nowhere near where 2016 was. The work the Border Force does on the small boats crisis – that is all significantly above that level.
Ms Moreton said this week’s difficulties had come as a “surprise”, as travel companies and airports should have been aware well in advance that the Platinum Jubilee half-term would generate a surge in passenger numbers.
But she said that the industry was suffering from the high demand for staff due to the current state of the employment market.
“Unemployment has never been so low, so individuals might be choosing to work in better-paid roles or in roles where you don’t work shifts,” she said.
“It’s an issue for recruitment with Border Force, that the salary just doesn’t keep up with today’s expectations. You can earn more as a delivery driver for DHL and the like. That may well have something to do with it.
“You need to be able to get your recruitment in line and your salaries into a line where people are going to accept those jobs.”
