Our campaigns

Sponsorship is at the root of widespread exploitation of migrant workers in sectors from construction to care, domestic work and fruit picking. With their visa status tied to their employer, hundreds of thousands of migrant workers feel unable to challenge exploitation, for fear of losing their right to be in the UK. And if they do decide to report it, getting redress can take years.

We are calling for urgent reform of the sponsorship system to:

• Give migrant workers the freedom and means to change employers.
• Empower them to report exploitation, without fear of losing their status.
• Prevent exploitation in the long term, with a Migrant Worker Welfare Strategy that puts worker welfare at the heart of the UK’s immigration system.

What have we achieved?

Our Systemic Drivers report, published in November 2023, was among the first to raise awareness of the risks of migrant worker exploitation created by employer-sponsored visas. 

We are pleased to see increasing buy-in for the recommendations we made, including from:

• The Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner (IASC), who echoed the call for a Workplace Justice Visa in a briefing on the UK’s strategy for tackling labour exploitation.

• The Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner and Director for Labour Market Enforcement (DLME), who recently gave evidence to the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) inquiry highlighting the Workplace Justice Visa as an example of a potential policy that could incentivise greater reporting and visibility of labour exploitation.

• MPs, as highlighted in a January 2025 Westminster Hall debate on a proposed certificate of common sponsorship that would enable migrant workers to change jobs without facing immigration fees or visa status risks.

• Lords, such as the Lord Bishop of Bristol’s call for making work visas more flexible so that workers are not trapped in exploitative conditions.

• The Low Pay Commission, which cited our analysis of the risks of sponsorship for both employers and workers in its annual National Minimum Wage report. 

• The Home Office, which adopted an informal policy to not curtail migrant care workers’ visa where they have been affected by sponsor licence revocation, imposed stricter sponsor licensing requirements, and increased enforcement action against rogue sponsors.

• The Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC), which funded a rematching programme to assist migrant workers affected by sponsor licence revocations.

This is just the beginning. We are working hard to persuade ministers to make further reforms that protect workers, legitimate businesses, and the general public.

To help, please consider making a donation, or contact our team to join forces.

Read our publications

Despite providing essential care for elderly and disabled people, migrant care workers are facing extraordinary risks. The Health and Care Worker Visa introduced after Brexit to plug labour shortages in the NHS and the adult social care sector, puts employers in charge of workers' immigration status. If an employer withdraws their sponsorship, migrant workers have just 60 days to secure another job from Home Office-licensed sponsor, make and pay for another visa, or risk becoming undocumented. 

Many employers use this to exploit workers and prevent them from blowing the whistle. Our frontline team has supported countless individuals who were physically abused, forced to work long hours with minimal pay, or asked to pay eye-watering recruitment fees for jobs that never materialised. To protect them we are, among other things, calling on the government to stop penalising workers for the actions of their employers and:

• Lift the 60-day cap on finding another visa sponsor.

• Permit workers to take up any job, while they are looking for a new sponsor, to avoid the risk of destitution or re-exploitation.

• Give exploited workers an immigration status that gives them the unrestricted right to work, as many other countries do (e.g. Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Ireland). 

What have we achieved?

There is now a countrywide understanding of the enormous risks migrant care workers face under the Health and Care Worker visa. Our strategic legal cases that challenged rogue employers, and research reports that documented the issue were cited dozens of times in the media and by policymakers (see above). 

We have also seen practical steps from:  

• The Home Office, which adopted an informal policy not to curtail workers’ visas where they have been affected by sponsor licence revocation.

• The Home Office, which adopted stricter sponsor licensing requirements and increased enforcement action against rogue sponsors.

• The Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC), which funded a rematching programme to assist migrant workers affected by sponsor licence revocations.

This is just the beginning. We are working hard to persuade ministers to make further reforms that protect workers, legitimate businesses, and the general public.

To help, please consider making a donation, or contact our team to join forces.

Read our publications

Migrant workers who want to work on British farms are subject to strict visa conditions that restrict their ability to leave an exploitative employer or challenge abuse. Just a handful of operators recruit and hire workers on the Seasonal Worker Visa Scheme, with the location, duration and type of work they can undertake in the hands of these operators. Every season, our clients report poor housing, overwork, bullying and discriminatory behaviour. For others, their contract is terminated unexpectedly early, leaving them indebted and dismayed.

Substantial reform of the seasonal worker scheme is the only way to make sure the British fruit and vegetables you eat are produced fairly. These reforms must:

• Make it easier for workers to transfer between farms if work dries up, or if they experience exploitation or poor conditions.

• Enable workers to claim compensation for unlawful recruitment fees.

• Increase the penalties for operators or farms who fail to provide workers with their entitlements, such as a contract in their own language and at least 32 hours of pay for every week workers are in the UK.

What have we achieved?

We have been advocating for the rights of seasonal workers for years and in November 2023 started a formal Seasonal Workers Interest Group with our allies at Worker Support Centre Scotland, FLEX, Anti Trafficking and Labour Exploitation Unit (ATLEU), FairSquare, Anti-Slavery International,  The Landworkers’ Alliance, Unite the Union and the TUC. 

While there is still a way to go, our shared advocacy secured real, tangible wins for workers. These include:

• An April 2023 government announcement that workers on the Seasonal Worker Visa (SWV) will be guaranteed a minimum of 32 hours of work per week. This added vital security to workers, who previously could be employed on contracts that barely had enough hours to cover accommodation costs. 

• A further announcement in 2024 clarifying that the 32 hours referred to guaranteed payment per week, regardless of whether work is actually available.

• Increased willingness from the horticulture sector to adopt the Employer Pays Principle (EPP), an internationally recognised best practice whereby employers pay all recruitment costs to reduce the risk of workers becoming indebted to pay for migration. Specifically, in 2024 the Supplier Ethical Data Exchange (SEDEX) SMETA 7.0 audit standard, which is commonly used by businesses in the sector to assess workplace standards, introduced a requirement for farming and growing businesses to pay for the recruitment and transportation fees of seasonal workers as part of the EPP. Later in January 2025, Pro Force, one of the labour providers under the scheme, launched an EPP pilot in January 2025, on which the Work Rights Centre provided advice.

• A recognition from large investors with assets in UK retail, hospitality and food production of the issues under the SWS, the importance of an independent investigation, implementing the EPP, and ensuring ethical recruitment.  

This is just the beginning. We are working hard to persuade ministers to make further reforms that protect workers, legitimate businesses, and the general public.

To help, please consider making a donation, or contact our team to join forces.

Read our publications

Millions of people are working precariously today in jobs that are poorly paid and offer no security. Migrant workers are particularly vulnerable to exploitation, with visas that tie them to their employers and silence whistleblowing. And when they do report, tribunal delays and poor enforcement mean that more than 1 in 5 workers never receive what they are owed.

The government’s “New Deal for Working People” is a real opportunity to rebalance the scales. Their pledge to institute a Fair Work Agency for labour rights enforcement is something we have long campaigned for. But there is still a way to go to protect the most vulnerable workers and increase access to employment:

We are campaigning for:

• Proportionate and fair probation periods.

• More inclusive Statutory Maternity Pay rules.

• Stronger accountability for company directors who act with impunity.

• A Fair Work Agency that represents migrant workers and provides secure reporting.

• A Workplace Justice Visa, that protects migrant workers’ status while they are engaged in employment dispute proceedings.

• A well-resourced Employment Tribunal system that is accessible to all workers seeking justice, including vulnerable migrants.

What have we achieved?

The key achievement is securing government commitment to a single enforcement body for labour rights. This is something we have campaigned for since our 2023 Systemic Drivers report, including with allies at the Labour Exploitation Advisory Group (LEAG). It is also encouraging to see buy-in for other recommendations, including from:

• The Modern Slavery Act Committee, the Liberal Democrat party, and the London Green Party, which included a recommendation on secure reporting.

•  The GLA, which started piloting secure reporting, to which we are contributing. 

• The Low Pay Commission, which echoed our assessment that labour enforcement is weak.

• The Independent Anti Slavery Commissioner (IASC) and Director for Labour Market Enforcement (DLME) in their evidence to the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) inquiry calling for the government to explore the feasibility of a Workplace Justice Visa.

This is just the beginning. We are working hard to persuade ministers to make further reforms that protect workers, legitimate businesses, and the general public.

To help, please consider making a donation, or contact our team to join forces.

Read our publications

On the 24 of February 2022, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, a democracy of 38 million people. Ever since, our team has supported hundreds of Ukrainians to find safety in the UK and rebuild their lives. 

Our research reports led to greater scrutiny of the government’s running of the Homes for Ukraine Scheme (see this DHLUC select committee session), and our findings on the risk of homelessness ultimately resulted in large increases to funding for sponsors and local authorities. We contributed to an APPG on Homelessness event that led to 74 parliamentarians co-signing a letter calling for greater support for Ukrainians in the UK.

But on 19 February 2024, without any warning or parliamentary scrutiny, ministers unexpectedly made sweeping changes to the Ukraine Schemes that have left families divided, and some Ukrainians unable to remain in the UK on the visa schemes. Together with the Immigration Law Practitioners' Association (ILPA), we immediately submitted evidence to the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee, demonstrating the impact on families, and the undemocratic process. As an option of last resort, we brought a legal challenge against the government.

Following our challenge, on 31 January 2025 the Home Office updated its guidance to re-allow Ukrainians with status under the schemes to bring minor children to the UK. This is life-changing news for families. We thank the Public Law Project for acting for us, and our counsel Phil Haywood and Marin Westgate KC.

Read our publications