Rise in foreign care staff reporting exploitation

The number of foreign social care staff working in the UK who have reported that they are trapped in exploitative contracts has risen sixfold in the last three years, in the latest evidence of widespread abuse of migrants in the British care system.

- Kiran Stacey

Data from the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) shows that the organisation was contacted 134 times in 2023-24 by care workers reporting that their employers were demanding large sums of money from them to cover "hiring costs", including visa processing, if they left their jobs.

This figure was up from 22 such complaints just three years ago.

The rise in complaints about repayment clauses, which in one case ran to £10,000, underlines how a recent explosion in recruitment of professional carers from abroad has allowed unscrupulous employers to target vulnerable workers.

Nicola Ranger, the RCN general secretary, said: "Rogue employers appear to be forcing migrants to pay thousands of pounds just to leave jobs and threatening them with deportation. Those who come to the UK to care for the vulnerable deserve so much better than this exploitation.

"Sadly, we know the surge in exploitation cases being reported to the RCN is only the tip of the iceberg. Migrant workers are routinely intimidated and left fearful of speaking out, even having their passports withheld. They are also much less likely to be members of trade unions."