Care workers from Africa claim agency charged them thousands to come to UK

A care company serving NHS patients has been charging migrant workers from Africa thousands of pounds to work in the UK when the cost of a visa is only a few hundred pounds, the Guardian has learned.

- Robert Booth

Care workers from Zimbabwe were told to pay the sums to Gloriavd Health Care Ltd in return for arranging social care jobs in and around Leeds and Bath. They also claimed they were given far less paid work than they had been led to expect, were housed in overcrowded rooms and faced a threat that their conduct could be reported to the Home Office, leading them to fear deportation if they complained.

One woman alleged she had sold her home in rural South Africa to pay £6,500 in fees to the company, only to find that she and her colleagues had so little work they had to rely on food banks.

“She took all that I had,” said Winnet Mushaninga, 40, a qualified care worker from Zimbabwe who has been living near Durban. “The trauma and suffering was too much. We paid a lot of money. It’s just painful.”

The allegations come after the Home Office added care workers to the UK’s shortage occupation list in 2022 to help fill 165,000 vacancies in care homes and domiciliary care. There has been rising concern about the exploitation of the immigration route by some employment agencies.

Mushaninga told the Guardian she had been recruited directly from Africa by Gloriavd and had understood the fee would cover the cost of the visa and the certificate of sponsorship as well as two months’ accommodation and access to a full-time job. The Guardian has seen evidence of bank transfers on her behalf to the company’s bank account totalling £5,500.

On her arrival in Britain last April, Mushaninga alleged she had to live four to a room with mattresses on the floor, earned just £20 a day, and ended up using a church food bank.