Migrant care staff are ‘exploited on a grand scale’, union says

Unison claimed foreign care staff who have been invited to the UK to help the chronic worker shortage are only being paid £5 an hour.

According to Unison, foreign carers are being exploited by British firms and forced to work 19-hour shifts without a break. In addition, some are also being charged thousands of pounds in unexpected fees.

One example of this is a worker from Botswana has claimed they have been working in domiciliary care from 6am to 10pm six days a week but has been paid less than half the legal minimum wage.

Against this backdrop, a Wiltshire-based company laid her off after losing the council care contract and now she fears deportation. Another organisation in Cambridgeshire, which recruited from abroad, closed its doors last week leaving workers scared for their future.

According to figures released at the beginning of this year, 8.2% of care roles were unfulfilled in the UK, which equates to a shortage of around 100,000 carers. From this statistic it would be assumed foreign workers would be paid equally to thank them for helping bridge worker gaps.

Incidents of workers being severely under treated have come to light amid reports the immigration minister, Robert Jenrick, has comprised options to curb immigration, including banning workers from bringing dependants, or restricting them to one relative.

However, in 2022 the Home Office extended skilled worker visas to foreign care workers to help fill 165,000 social care vacancies. Most recruits have come from Nigeria, India and Zimbabwe, according to Skills for Care – a government funded agency.

Christina McAnea, the Unison general secretary, said: The care system would implode without migrant care staff. Demonising these workers will do nothing to solve the social care crisis.’

‘Overseas care workers have been encouraged to come here to support those most in need, only for some employers to treat them as expendable,’ Ms McAnea said. ‘Ministers must stop being complicit in allowing this abuse to happen. The government needs to reform immigration rules, not make them more draconian.’

In response to these findings from Unison, a government spokesperson said: ‘We do not tolerate abuse in the labour market and where we identify exploitative practices are being undertaken by sponsors we take action This can include the revocation of their license.

‘The Gangmaster and Labour Abuse Authority is working with other law enforcement agencies to identify illegal working and those found operating unlawfully will face prosecution or removal from the sponsorship register.’

Image: SerenaWong

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