UK Response to Aid Abused Migrant Carers Failing Most, Data Show

Mint

4 days ago

(Bloomberg) -- A major government initiative to match exploited migrant care workers in the UK with new employers has helped less than 4% find new roles, according to a Freedom of Information request, casting further doubt on the government's efforts to cut migration in the social care sector.
More than 28,000 migrant care workers whose visas were tied to their employer had to be referred to government job-finding 'hubs' between May 2024 and April 2025, according data released by the Home Office in response to an FOI from charity the Work Rights Centre. That was after they lost the job they were supposed to fill when UK Visas and Immigration officers discovered more than 470 employers were exploiting staff, and revoked their licenses to sponsor overseas workers.
But just 941 of those so-called 'displaced' migrant staff signposted by UKVI for support, or 3.4%, reported finding alternative employment. The small proportion who've been helped will cast doubt on the government's plans to bring down job vacancies in social care by utilizing the pool of displaced workers, after it banned recruitment of overseas social care staff last month in an effort to reduce immigration.
'After Covid, England desperately needed more care workers, and thousands of people from around the world answered that call in good faith,' said Dora-Olivia Vicol, chief executive of the Work Rights Centre. 'But instead of jobs they got scams, and instead of justice they got a referral to a program that simply doesn't work as intended.'
She urged the government to 'rethink their approach' to migrant care workers by fully reforming the Health and Care Worker Visa so it isn't dependent on employer sponsorship.
The Health and Care Worker Visa route was introduced by Boris Johnson's government in 2020, as the number of vacancies in the social care sector — which looks after the elderly, sick and disabled — soared due to Covid-19, Brexit and an aging population. Employers were given a fast-track route to recruit staff from abroad by applying for licenses from the Home Office to sponsor workers.
But few checks were done on the businesses who became licensed to be sponsors. Bloomberg found evidence of businesses charging overseas workers tens of thousands of pounds for the opportunity to come to the UK, while some paid their workers too little, overworked them or gave them no hours at all.
The migrants couldn't quit their jobs, and in many cases were too afraid to report their employer, since their right to stay in the UK was tied to their continued employment with that business. But UKVI began investigating and revoked at least 471 employers' sponsorship licenses. That meant around 40,000 migrant staff employed by those businesses could no longer work, and were left looking for an alternative employer.
This pool of workers was one reason that Prime Minister Keir Starmer felt able to announce last month plans to ban British care businesses from recruiting overseas workers. Under pressure from the growing popularity of Nigel Farage's anti-migrant Reform UK party, Starmer has been looking for ways to reduce net migration into the country — almost 700,000 people have entered the UK on Health and Care Worker Visas over the last five years.
But matching those people with jobs is proving to be harder than expected. Emails sent out to displaced workers urging them to visit their local recruitment hub have in many cases gone unanswered, according to one government source. Many are thought to have gone into so-called 'black market' work such as prostitution in order to make a living, according to another government official.
In other cases, employers have rejected workers applying through the hubs because their English language isn't satisfactory, or they fail other requirements.
'We're hearing a lot of moans about the hubs,' said Jane Townsend, chief executive of the Homecare Association which represents UK home care providers. Some businesses looking for workers said it had taken months to speak to anyone at the hubs, she said. 'What we're hearing from lots of people is that they're not replying to emails. There doesn't seem to be a sense of urgency — and of course the clock ticks for the displaced workers, they've got 60 days to find another job, otherwise they get deported.'
The Home Office had not responded to a request for comment at the time of publication. It has previously said 10,000 of the 40,000 who were displaced had found alternative work.
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