Meera Stephen arrived in Britain with a big suitcase and even bigger dreams. The 27-year-old had left Kerala in southern India to work in a nursing home in Manchester, one of thousands of migrant workers to come after a government recruitment campaign to fill more than 100,000 vacancies. in social care.
The job would pay £ 10 an hour, just above the minimum wage. But it had a price. In exchange for securing his job, he would pay a hiring agent 1.3 million rupees, about £ 13,700.
Stephen, whose name has been changed to protect her, is one of a growing number of migrant workers being paid to work in the UK healthcare sector.
Requiring workers to pay hiring fees to find or try to find work is illegal in the UK and violates international labor standards.
The practice has previously been exposed in Dubai and the Gulf, most recently with migrant workers employed in World Cup-related projects in Qatar, and is considered an abuse of human rights that leaves workers vulnerable to exploitation.
But Observer research has uncovered a booming industry of recruitment agencies supplying workers to nursing homes and home care companies across the UK that pass on recruitment costs to candidates.
Workers in countries such as India, the Philippines, Ghana and Zimbabwe, many of whom arrived through a new visa plan for health workers launched in February, report being charged between £ 2,000 and £ 18,000 in illegal fees. .
Most cannot speak publicly because their visas are tied to their employers.
But the testimony of 10 workers, interviews with charities and labor experts and the analysis of payroll, contracts and online chat groups for workers reveal that the practice is widespread, with dozens of agencies believed to be charging fees.
Recruiters appear to be targeting workers in low-income countries, especially in Asia and Africa, attracting candidates with promises of good jobs or a “dream life” in the UK through social media and word of mouth .
The official visa application fee for individuals is £ 247, with the costs associated with hiring allegedly borne by the employer.
But in an exchange with a covert journalist last week, an India-based agency that supplies workers to nursing homes in the UK said the “service charge” to candidates to arrange a £ 10 job for hour would be 1.7 million rupees, about £ 17,800.
The agency said that £ 1,500 will be paid before the interview, £ 4,000 upon receipt of a letter of offer and £ 3,500 after the issuance of a visa, and the rest will be charged upon arrival in the UK. United.
Another company said on its website that applicants should “pay an agency fee to find you a job.” The UK-listed agency quoted £ 4,500 for a “placement package” which includes a certificate of sponsorship, a cost normally borne by the employer and “visa application support”, which only registered lawyers and immigration advisers can legally charge.
A third agency, which we do not name to protect the victims’ identities, demanded a £ 4,000 fee from a worker to secure a £ 10.10-per-hour healthcare assistant job at a nursing home for elderly residents in the southeast.
In a letter of offer sent to the worker, seen by the Observer, the UK-based company said that the fee – equivalent to more than two months full salary – should “cover the cost of processing the certificate of sponsorship “.
The fees are likely to be illegal and in line with the International Labor Organization’s definition of prohibited fees, which includes “any costs incurred in the hiring process for workers to obtain employment or employment.” location, regardless of the manner, time or place of its imposition or placement. collection “.
Care workers have been trapped in debt slavery, a modern form of slavery, as a result of being forced to pay dues. The suspected victims described how the agents had deducted money from their salaries and withheld their passports or residence permits until they paid off the debt.
Activist Joe Joseph from Kerala, India, who has highlighted the problem of modern slavery in the nursing home sector. Photography: Antonio Olmos / The Observer
Meera Stephen said she was expected to work “day and night” while working to pay what she owed. Before arriving in the UK, he had borrowed some friends to cover the initial costs, but still owed £ 3,700. He says the agent has his biometric residence permit – a proof of his immigration status – until the fee is paid.
Others claim to have been deceived about their working conditions, to have been paid less than the minimum wage and subject to threats and abuse.
In one case, a woman was told she would work in Birmingham, but she was sent to rural Wales. His visa was tied to this businessman. “There is no car or bus. She lives at home. They sold their property in India to come here. How will they return? “Said Joe Joseph, a Kerala activist who posted on social media about recruitment charges.” People are scared. If they raise their voices, they will be fired. “
Contracts that link workers to their work can make it even harder for some to step down. Amortization clauses are commonly used in the private care sector, as well as for some NHS trusts, and stipulate that workers will pay a fee if they leave before the end of the terms of the agreed contract, usually two or three years. .
John Ncube, who arrived in Britain from Zimbabwe earlier this year, said he had been forced to borrow money from relatives to cover the cost of a £ 2,000 “administrative commission” to find the his job, with £ 250 a month deducted from his salary.
After rent, bills, food and other expenses – including a fee for renting a company car – there is “nothing” left, despite working overtime. John, whose name has been changed to protect him, cannot leave his role due to an amortization clause stating that he will have to pay almost £ 4,000 if he resigns within two years.
“It’s frustrating and depressing. You’re very tired and you’re pushing yourself. It doesn’t make sense,” he said.
“A lot of people at home don’t realize that hiring rates are illegal because they’re so common. Even if they did, many would come anyway. That’s the most heartbreaking thing. Agents and employers see their despair.”
The findings raise urgent concerns about modern slavery in Britain and come amid a worsening social care crisis, with vacancy rates in England reaching 10%, according to the charity Skills for Care .
In February, the government added health workers to the shortage employment list, easing the requirements for them to come to Britain as long as they were sponsored by an employer.
Announcing the plan, Home Secretary Priti Patel said it would “help ease” the pressure by attracting thousands of international care workers. But four months later, evidence suggests the route is being widely exploited by rogue recruiters.
The new figures reveal that recruitment quotas are part of a broader picture of the worsening of the sector’s exploitation. Kate Terroni, chief inspector of adult social care at the Quality of Care Commission, which regulates health and social care in England, said there had been a “significant increase” in referrals for modern slavery in 2022 and was working with other agencies to deal with it. So far there have been 14 references this year, double the total figure for 2021 and almost five times the total figure for 2020.
Unseen UK, the charity that runs the national helpline on modern slavery, said it saw 78 potential victims of modern slavery and labor exploitation in the care sector in 2021, twice as many. the 2020 figure.
Other cases seen by the Observer reveal that workers are also being trafficked into the healthcare sector through illegal channels. In one case, an 18-year-old man was brought from West Africa as the spouse of a man with a student visa and forced to work as a home caregiver. The teenager and her family believed she was going to work in the beauty industry, but she registered with a care agency in the UK with a false identity.
Common to the private care sector, some reimbursement clauses are also used for some NHS trusts and stipulate that workers will pay a fee if they leave before their contract ends. Photo: Phil Fisk / Getty Images / Image source
The teen was forced to work 10 hours a day, seven days a week while the money went into someone else’s bank account, according to Debbie Ariyo, president of the BME Anti-Slavery Network. “She was really exploited. They called her on the phone to harass her, ‘How come you’re not at work? What are you doing?'” Ariyo said.
In another case identified by the Kanlungan charity, which supports Filipino migrants, a husband and wife came with their son after being offered a job as a physiotherapist.
Upon arrival, they realized that they were being forced to do care work, and they were deployed to private homes in the southeast. They spent months relocating, earning below the minimum wage with little free time, and their employers allegedly told them, “If you don’t work, we’ll leave you homeless tomorrow and report you to the Home Office.”
The Gangmasters and Labor Abuse Authority, sponsored by the Home Office, has become increasingly concerned about abuse in the care sector in recent months, with raids leading to arrests of suspects for modern crime related to slavery.
To address the problems, experts and activists are calling for greater oversight of the healthcare sector and a review of the Ministry of the Interior’s visa sponsorship system. Some have called for jobs to be advertised on a government portal to make it easier for candidates to apply directly, eliminating agents and other intermediaries.
They are also calling for care to become a GLAA-licensed sector, such as agriculture. This would mean that all hiring agents, both inside and outside the UK, would need a license to supply workers, with conditions stipulating that “they should not charge a worker a fee for any job search service”.