LONDON: Britain on Thursday set out stronger sanctions against employers who exploit foreign workers, following research showing abuses, particularly in the social care sector.

Businesses that repeatedly flout visa rules or commit serious employment breaches, such as not paying the minimum wage, will be barred from recruiting foreign workers for two years, up from the current 12 months, the government said.

Seema Malhotra, the minister for migration and citizenship, said worker exploitation was unacceptable.

“Shame­fully, these practices have been seen particularly in our care sector, where workers coming to the UK to support our health and social care service have all too often found themselves plunged into unjustifiable insecurity and debt. This can, and must, end.”

Britain opened up a new visa route for social care jobs in 2021 to fill thousands of vacancies, but a range of factors, including low pay and poor working conditions, have made migrant workers in the sector more vulnerable to exploitative treatment.

Nearly a third of all care workers in England are migrants, having arrived from countries such as India, Nigeria, Zimbabwe and the Philippines.

New research this month showed that nearly 200 British social care providers allowed to employ foreign workers were found to have a record of labour violations.

Since July 2022, about 450 licences allowing employers to recruit foreign workers have been revoked in the care sector. Also included in the measures, action plans that bind companies committing minor visa breaches to specific corrective actions will be applied for 12 months, up from three.

The changes will be part of the new Labour government’s Employment Rights Bill.

Published in Dawn, November 29th, 2024