Work Rights Centre report reiterates need for reform of care worker route

Work Rights Centre has published a report “The forgotten third: migrant workers’ views on improving conditions in England’s adult social care sector” which looks at what the migrants who fill as many as 32% of care worker roles in England think about the sector and what needs to change. The report is based on interviews and survey responses from migrant care workers, as well as Violation Tracker UK’s analysis of regulatory infringements by 920 companies registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

The findings from the interviews and survey were that migrant care workers are subject to unsustainable working hours, low pay, persistent breaches of employment rights and a punitive visa regime. Analysis of the data on Violation Tracker UK indicates that visa sponsor non-compliance is widespread, finding that:

• A total of 177 companies with a licence to sponsor migrant care workers in August 2024 had a labour standards violations record, dated between 2020 and July 2024. This includes 42 companies that had more than one labour standards violation.
• Together, these companies lost a total of 225 Employment Tribunal cases during that time, for which they were ordered to pay more than £6 million in compensation to workers.
• The most common employment rights breach was unfair dismissal, followed by unauthorised deductions from wages and discrimination.

A recommendation for immigration reform of the route highlights the need for workers to be empowered:

to report non-compliance, leave exploitative roles, and take their labour to businesses that need and value them. The most effective way to achieve this would be by ending the sponsorship system that puts employers in charge of foreign workers’ leave to remain. As a minimum, the Home Office should at least update policy to give visa workers more time to change sponsors, and ensure that those who suffered exploitation are given the unrestricted right to work to prevent re-exploitation and destitution.

A presentation and Q&A with the report authors and a migrant care worker with experience of exploitation under the work sponsorship will take place on Thursday 14 November at 3pm on Zoom, those interested can register via Eventbrite.