Tag: careworkers

by Sara Forrest

Modern-day Slaves are significantly exploited by their employers. A high proportion are sex workers. Women are therefore more likely to be slaves than men. Charities working in this sector estimate that there are about 122,000 people currently living in the UK who are Modern-day Slaves.

The Government established a Care Workers Visa to enable workers from abroad to pay for visas to come here to work in what are often minimum wage jobs. Sadly, some employment agencies saw this as an opportunity to make lots of money and advertised Care Work jobs in the UK. Those applying did not realise that there could be times when no work would be available.

Visa holders cannot claim unemployment benefits or work for other employers. This gives their employers greater power. Significant numbers of these new Care Workers started to call the Modern-day Slavery Advice Lines due to the exploitation they suffered; forced to work long hours, pay for training/accommodation/uniform and to work anywhere.

The Visa rules have been changed each year to reduce the factors contributing to this exploitation. But the exploitation continues.

I know of one family where the mother got a Care Worker Visa, her husband and children got Dependent Visas. The family came expecting to be more financially secure than they had been in Africa. With both parents working full-time for the minimum wage the family could just about provide for themselves.

But the mother’s full-time care work soon stopped. Her agency could then provide her with only part-time work. Her sponsor offered her a temporary, full-time job 200 miles away. She had to take it to feed her family. When that job ended they offered part-time work in the same city. The family were desperate.

Her family will not be more secure until she finds a local employer who has a job in their own Care Home and who will pay to sponsor her. It is very difficult to find such jobs. Life in the UK is not what the family imagined. Their livelihood as insecure as it was in Africa.

In Hope, the Pope says

‘Every Christian is called upon to be an instrument of God for the liberation of all people and the advancement of the poor. This implies more than a few sporadic acts of generosity. It presumes a new mindset that thinks in terms of community.’

UK Slavery still happens. We know that as a country we do not have enough income to pay for all the services we expect. Poverty is a political choice. The Government are responsible for allocating their income for the good of all. Parties accept that the Care Sector is not working effectively.

Maybe in response to the Pope’s plea for a new mindset we should each think about (and talk about) what we consider to be fair share of the costs of our own care?

We must not be distracted by arguments about promises of no tax rises. There must be radical changes if the Care Sector is to become sustainable without the risk of Modern-day Slavery.

For more information:

ACAS have a good website that explains employee rights.

 

The Modern-day Slavery helplines are:

Unseen 0800 012 1700

Salvation Army 0800 808 3733