At least 177 companies operating in the care sector have been granted sponsorship licences by the Home Office despite having a recent record of employment violations.
The companies were found by employment tribunals, the Health and Safety Executive, or the national minimum wage enforcement team to have broken labour standards.
According to a large-scale analysis by Violation Tracker UK of companies registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and licensed by the Home Office to sponsor migrant workers, unfair dismissal was the most common violation, followed by unauthorised deductions from wages and discrimination.
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The figures were published as part of a report based on surveys and interviews with migrant care workers by the Work Rights Centre released this week. Among its findings were that 65% of workers alleged employment rights breaches in the last 12 months, including health and safety breaches, bullying, and discrimination.
More than a third (39%) of these respondents did not raise a complaint with their employer or make a report to an external agency, and interviewees reported that social pressure, mistrust of authorities, and fear of employer retaliation left them feeling unable to raise grievances.
Interviewees feared that reporting their employers to authorities risked having their visa curtailed, and several carers described instances where employers used the threat of visa curtailment to silence grievances.
Switching out of exploitative work situations was also problematic. While many workers (38) had tried to find a new sponsor, fewer than half (16) were successful.
Low pay and unpredictable working hours were also raised as serious issues by the care workers.
According to Ashley Stothard, immigration executive at national law firm Freeths, the report was deeply troubling.
She said the fact that care providers guilty of unfair treatment continued to hold licences to sponsor migrant workers, “raised significant ethical and regulatory concerns”.
Imbalance of power
Stothard said: “From a legal perspective, this situation underscores a critical need for stricter enforcement of labour laws and more rigorous oversight of sponsor licences. Migrant workers are tied to their employers with restrictive visa restrictions, often making it difficult for them to change jobs.
“The imbalance of power in favour of the employer means migrant workers can be exploited without little fear of repercussions.”
She added that now care workers were banned from bringing family members to the UK, they faced further isolation and a lack of support. The exploitation of migrant workers risked undermining the integrity of the UK’s immigration system.
Only the revoking of licences and tougher regulation could remedy matters. She said: “The demand for care staff should never justify the mistreatment of employees, and it is the government’s duty to hold these care providers accountable.”
A government spokesperson said: “We are deeply concerned by reports of unethical practices within the adult social care sector, and we will continue to act where evidence of abuse is found.
“The government recognises the scale of reforms needed to make the adult social care sector attractive, to support workforce growth and improve the retention of the domestic workforce. However, the sector also needs to help ensure international recruitment in the care system is both ethical and sustainable.”
Abolition of sponsorship
The government has promised the creation of a Fair Work Agency that will beef up enforcement powers around modern slavery and the national minimum wage although as currently envisaged it does not cover immigration rules.
The Work Rights Centre recommended urgent reform of the immigration system to “address the power imbalance” between employers and migrant visa workers.
Abolition of the sponsorship system was the most effective way to achieve this, the report authors stated, “but at a minimum, the Home Office should 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.”
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