A recent report for the UK government revealed that there were over 10,000 cases of modern slavery in the country in 2020, roughly equally split between adults and children. A subsequent study by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) suggests that paid, migrant, live-in care workers are at the greatest risk.
“Female migrant workers take on live-in care roles often as the first point of entry into the U.K. labor market,” the researchers explain. Favorable exchange rates can make the salaries promised to seem highly attractive. However, live-in carers can easily find themselves isolated in their clients’ homes and dependent upon agencies to ensure that the conditions of their employment are legal.”
Exploitation
There have long been concerns about exploitation in the care sector, with adult social care identified as a sector with a high risk of labor exploitation by the Director of Labor Market Enforcement. Despite this, the working lives of people in this sector, many of whom are circular migrants who are extremely isolated, have been unexamined.
The study explored the lives of migrant care workers from South Africa, Zimbabwe, Poland, and Hungary, most of whom worked on a zero-hours contract before migrating to self-employment.
The interviews with these workers identified five key risk factors:
- Their employment status
- Dangerous business models
- The role of intermediaries
- Information asymmetry between workers and intermediaries
- The intensive nature of the work from a physical and emotional perspective
“Live-in care workers are the hidden workforce of social care. Many of them come from abroad and they do vital work to support people with extensive and complex needs to live at home,” the researchers explain. “Our report highlights their lived experiences and the challenges they face in their jobs. It is important to listen to these and create safe and dignified conditions for this type of care work.”
Significant difficulties
Participants in the study reported a number of differences, such as opening bank accounts, or understanding payslips and the additional charges that agencies would often deduct for things like accommodation.
Participants also spoke of the intense emotional pressure that accompanied the work, which often spilled over into things like sleep deprivation, as well as racism, xenophobia and even sexual harassment.
The authors provide a number of policy recommendations, including removing the obligation for care workers to update their visas when they move within the sector, and the Home Office establishing a Memorandum of Understanding with labor market enforcement bodies to separate immigration control from labor inspection.
“It is vital for policymakers to listen to the lived experiences of migrant live-in care workers so as to understand and actively mitigate the specific modern slavery risks affecting them,” the researchers conclude. “The need for care, including live-in care, will increase as the U.K.’s population ages, and much of this indispensable work will be done by people coming from outside the U.K. It is our duty to ensure they can help fill these roles without compromising on their rights or safety.”
