Nearly 200 care providers have been given government licences to bring foreign nurses to the UK despite having previously violated labour laws, according to a study that highlights widespread employment problems in the social care sector.
The report by the Work Rights Centre shows 177 companies in England have been given licences to sponsor carers, even while publicly available information shows them to have violated workers’ protections in the past.
The study gives further evidence of major gaps in the government’s oversight of its foreign carer regime, under which hundreds of thousands of nurses and carers have travelled to Britain for work, only for many to experience exploitation and poor working conditions.
It will now prove an early test for Labour’s new employment rights enforcer, which the government has promised as part of its workers’ rights package.
Dora-Olivia Vicol, chief executive of the Work Rights Centre, said: “Our research finds that breaches of employment rights are endemic in the care sector. This cannot come as a surprise to the Home Office, which granted licences to companies with a history labour violations.
“For those who have been exploited, the fear of retaliation from their sponsor employer is enough to force them into silence. On top of this, working conditions are barely tolerable, with work schedules either all-consuming and exhausting, or so sparse that they do not provide enough income to make ends meet.”
The previous government turned to foreign workers to plug huge job gaps in the social care sector in the wake of the pandemic, with 350,000 foreign carers travelling to work in Britain last year alone.
The Guardian revealed this year that many of those who come for work are not given the jobs or the hours they were promised, despite in many cases having paid tens of thousands of pounds to companies to secure their jobs and travel.
Foreign carers have reported employers threatening them with deportation if they speak out about their experiences, with some forced to take irregular work on the side to pay the bills.
Experts say the government has exercised little oversight of the system, allowing some care companies to continue bringing workers from abroad despite clear evidence they are mistreating people.
The Work Rights Centre study shows at least 1 in every 14 companies with a licence to sponsor foreign workers has previously violated employment regulations, whether by offering substandard care, paying less than the minimum wage or breaching health and safety rules.
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The organisation also spoke to 92 different carers and found nearly two-thirds reported health and safety breaches, bullying or discrimination at work. Over half also said they were given unsustainable working hours, for example being asked to be on duty for as long as 100 hours a week despite only seeing clients for a fraction of that time.
Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, promised an investigation into the sector before Labour came to power, but has not said anything about holding one since the election.
A government spokesperson said: “We are deeply concerned by reports of unethical practices within the adult social care sector, and we will continue to act where evidence of abuse is found.
“The government recognises the scale of reforms needed to make the adult social care sector attractive, to support workforce growth and improve the retention of the domestic workforce. However, the sector also needs to help ensure international recruitment in the care system is both ethical and sustainable.”