- Conference
- 2025 National Black Members' Conference
- Date
- 9 September 2024
- Decision
- Carried as Amended
Companies are charging extortionate prices to migrant workers, sometimes up to £12,000 for someone to get a certificate of sponsorship to gain employment under the Carers Visa scheme.
Individuals are selling properties in their home countries, in a bid to come to the United Kingdom to make a better life for themselves and their families, whilst filing important vacancies in the Care Sector. Only to end up where they started, but in a foreign country without any other means of supporting themselves.
Companies that operate with these illegal dealings often don’t have enough hours for people and at times stop all communication, leaving individuals stranded. Migrant workers and our members are relying on food banks in this hash economy, further exacerbating the socio-economic gap.
Black Members are significantly affected by this as they often come to occupy these jobs as a means to escape poverty in their own country of origin. In addition, some of the companies exploiting Black members are black owned businesses.
In the year to March 2023, 57,693 people were granted skilled worker visas to take up jobs in the sector, with most recruited from lower-income countries outside the EU. In recent weeks, an article by the Observer highlighted the case of Mbare, who is one of thousands of care workers hired from abroad to help tackle a chronic staffing shortage in social care.
Mbare is one of many people who have fallen victim of a company claiming they are able to provide work for 40 hours a week for £10.20 per hour. But the conditions are not what people expected. Some individuals are given contracts but, in most cases, they don’t know what they are entitled to under employment law.
In some cases, people arrive in UK and receive far fewer hours, which leaves them struggling to afford basic living costs. Sometimes, individuals have to set off for their day before 7am and return at 11pm but spend as little as two or three hours providing care to clients, split into half-hour chunks.
When individuals raise concerns with managers, hoping the situation could be resolved, companies then threaten that the Home Office will cancel their visa sponsorship. This undoubtedly, makes people scared to raise concerns and they put their heads down and continue suffering in silence.
UNISONs Migrant Worker Network offers a way for members to access advice and support in relation to their Visa’s and ability to work in the UK, through the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants.
The Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority, part of the Home Office, has also acknowledged that tied visas drive exploitation. In its June 2023 intelligence report, it said “the most common vulnerability of victims, many of whom are in the care sector, was them being tied into a certificate of sponsorship or visa”. This led to them “being forced to work for the employer even if the conditions were unacceptable, and the employer using the threat of cancelling the sponsorship if the worker complained”.
Conference call upon the National Black Members Committee to:
1)Work with the National Executive Committee to identify ways in which branches can increase their support for carers currently under Certificate of Sponsorship
2)Research how many people are affected by these issues by surveying members and branches.
3)Produce guidance for branches and regions to address the impact of modern slavery and to encourage Migrant workers to join our Migrant Worker Network.
