Anti-slavery watchdog calls for action on abuse of migrant care workers

Visa scheme brought in after Brexit was a 'blunt instrument' that enabled exploitation

- Shanti Das

A post-Brexit visa scheme to fill vacancies in social care was badly designed and enabled “horrific” abuse of migrant workers, the UK’s anti-slavery watchdog has said.

Commissioner Eleanor Lyons said the care worker visa route introduced by the Conservatives in February 2022 had caused avoidable harm and “some really severe” exploitation.

“In an already high-risk sector where there were large-scale shortages and we needed lots of workers to be able to come in and fill that gap, there was a blunt instrument applied. It allowed for incredibly vulnerable people to be exploited,” Lyons said.

The independent antislavery commissioner, a former special adviser to Boris Johnson, was speaking after the Home Office revealed more than 470 care companies have had their licences to sponsor migrant workers revoked amid concerns about fraud, abuse and exploitation.

About 39,000 workers were linked to the firms. The Work Rights Centre said the figures pointed to a “national scandal”. Lyons called the number of licence revocations “alarming”.