Below is the story of one of our members. This accompanied the letter we sent to MPs in September 2024. Other stories were written by Anonymous E, Kate, Julie, KR and Rachel. You can download all of our stories here.
I am a migrant care worker working in domiciliary care. I am writing not just for myself but for countless other silenced migrant care workers in domiciliary care. We have all come to the UK seeking greener pastures, only to be downtrodden at every step: be it illegal fees in recruitment or getting paid below National Minimum Wage because of unpaid travel time.
The journey has been full of agony, but the cries have been silenced because no migrant worker wants their employer to lose the sponsorship licence, as this would result in them losing their UK visa.
The introduction of care workers to the shortage occupation list is what led to this migration opportunity, but in effect it is filling the shortage of care workers in UK with a rampantly-abused imported workforce that is in no way favourable for the sector, because no sector can thrive when a significant proportion of its workforce is abused every day.
I urge you to come to the ground and follow some migrant domiciliary care workers’ lives for a few days. You will see that they are sleep deprived, starving and dragging a sore body just to keep their job going which is tied to their UK visa. If you were in the shoes of a disabled person who is being cared for by a migrant care worker who has been abused by their employer, you wouldn’t like to be the care service recipient.
It is imperative that you improve surveillance to stop the migrant abuse which is a defining feature of the care sector at present. In my opinion if local councils are more conscious of the mistreatment of migrant workers in their procurement decisions, it may be an effective step forward.
For the sake of myself and other migrant workers, I am willing to be of any help that I can.
Thank you very much for reading my thoughts.
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