As fewer care workers immigrate, the risk of migrant exploitation in construction and hospitality grows
The number of sponsored work visas issued to care professionals continued to drop in Q4 2024, with just 2,000 issued. This comes after the government ramped up sponsor regulation, applying stricter licensing requirements and revoking more licences in response to reports of exploitation.
In this blog post we argue that while measures to prevent rogue businesses from exploiting migrants in the adult social care sector are welcome, analogous labour exploitation concerns apply to other sectors. Due to local recruitment challenges, a growing number of Skilled Worker visas have been issued to people in low-paid or otherwise precarious roles, including tradesmen, sales assistants, and administrative staff. To protect them, we urge the Home Office to do more to plug the gaps in sponsored worker protection across the board.
Number of visas for carers issued hits new low
In Q4 2024, just 2,039 Health and Care Worker visas were issued to applicants in ‘caring professional services’, down by 94% from an all-time high in Q3 2023, when 34,513 visas were issued (see Figure 1).
Figure 1. Number of Health and Care visas issued to care professionals, 2022-2024
As we have outlined previously, the decline in visas issued to care workers could be explained by two factors. In spring 2024 the Home Office enacted policies designed to reduce net migration. This included removing the right of care workers to bring dependants, an 11% increase in the salary requirement, and a new mandate for all sponsors to be registered with the Care Quality Commission. Separately, the Home Office ramped up regulatory oversight of sponsors, reacting to the innumerable reports of exploitation in the adult social care sector.
In the first half of 2024 alone, 583 sponsor licences were revoked or suspended, according to our FOI request, and fewer businesses were added onto the register of licensed sponsors. Around the same time the government announced a £16 million worker rematching service, to support migrant care workers affected by sponsor licence revocations.
Skilled Worker visas remain popular overall - for good reason
While the government’s initial focus on adult social care is understandable, it is crucial for officials to acknowledge the analogous risks of exploitation for other Skilled Worker visa holders.
With approximately 58,000 visas issued in 2024, the Skilled Worker route remains hugely popular with international workers. Despite a sharp increase in the salary requirement in April 2024, as well as a couple of other restrictive changes, the number of visas granted to Skilled Workers has only slightly dipped since 2023, when 65,000 visas were issued to main applicants (see Figure 2).
Figure 2. Number of Skilled Worker visas issued to main applicants, 2022-2024
Local recruitment challenges are likely the driving force behind the increase in visas. According to a Department for Education (DfE) study on local jobseekers’ demand for various occupations in the UK labour market, there is a transparent link between (high) demand and (high) visa sponsorship. All 181 occupations that had a ‘very high visa application density’ in 2023/24 (note: high number of visas issued as a share of employment) were also classified as ‘critically in-demand’. In short, employers are desperately recruiting from abroad to fill a wide range of vacancies that simply do not or cannot attract local workers.
The Government’s attempts to plug labour shortages with local skills investment are also unlikely to bear fruit for years. In September 2024, the Government set out measures designed to reduce net migration and boost local skill growth, as part of its push to “link migration policy with skills and wider labour market policy” and reduce reliance on foreign labour. Any measurable success on this front is unlikely to be felt soon, given the time it normally takes to raise funds for, set up and operationalise such policy interventions. This means that Skilled Worker visas are likely to remain popular in the medium to long term.
Ever more Skilled Worker visas are issued for technical or elementary roles
While professionals in highly-paid roles are over-represented on Skilled Worker visas, this route is increasingly being used to recruit tradesmen, sales or customer service assistants, and administrative staff, all of whom are in technical or elementary-level roles. In 2024 these professions made up as many as 31% of Skilled Worker visas issued, up from 26% in 2023, and just 14% in 2022. In total, more than 44,000 Skilled Worker visas were issued to this cohort over the last three years (see Figure 3).
This makes sense given local recruitment challenges. In construction for instance, 74% of employers who attempted to recruit domestically faced issues, so in summer 2023 a range of construction professions were added to the ‘Shortage Occupation List.’ In hospitality, a sector with more than 100,000 vacancies as of April 2024, many ‘food tradesmen’ (e.g. chefs) are increasingly coming from abroad.
Figure 3. Number of Skilled Worker visas issued, selected occupations, 2022-2024
Tying precarious workers to their employers comes with a risk of exploitation
The government should think about the risks of tying migrant workers to low-paid jobs. Roles within customer service, sales, and ‘textile and other trades’ have some of the lowest median hourly incomes of all occupations, according to provisional 2024 ASHE data. Low pay makes it harder for workers to take action against employer non-compliance, and exacerbates the financial impact of infringements, like unauthorised deductions from pay, illegal recruitment fees charged by unscrupulous employers and non-provision of work.
Case study 1
A South Asian national came to the UK on a Skilled Worker sponsored visa to work as chef in a supermarket food counter. They paid tens of thousands of pounds in recruitment fees to secure the position.
The relatively small wage of a supermarket chef (£26,200pa) meant the worker would have to work for over a year to pay back the money, after the employer added on interest. Being tied to their employer meant that they could not just switch jobs or report their employer without potential repercussions, leaving them feeling forced to accept overwork and intimidation.
Other sectors have high staff turnover, which is another indicator of precarity. More than half of hospitality staff (52%) left their employer between 2022 and 2023, compared with a national turnover rate of just 34%. And in construction, tradesmen often switch employers or contractors due to company insolvencies, driven both by difficult economic conditions post-covid and a culture of delays in payment for services. If one in two hospitality workers who had the means chose to leave their jobs, is tying migrant workers to these employers the safe thing to do?
Case study 2
A qualified construction engineer from Asia arrived in the UK on the Skilled Worker visa with the promise of a role in his field. However, on arrival, his employer informed him he would be working as a traffic marshall instead on much lower pay.
The worker had no option but to hold on to this underpaid employment, for which they were grossly overqualified, with the hope of eventually pursuing their long-term career ambitions in the UK.
Yet, after just two years, the sponsoring company dismissed the worker, flouting employment law in the process and leaving the worker destitute.
The Government must reform the Skilled Worker visa
Our previous research has shown that migrant worker exploitation is not limited to a single sector. The fundamental driver of exploitation is the power imbalance between workers and employers - that exists in most workplaces, is severe in low-paid sectors, and is exacerbated when employers are put in charge of visas.
As we argued in our Systemic Drivers of Migrant Worker Exploitation report, the most effective way to mitigate these risks would be by putting an end to employer sponsorship. At the very least, the government should give migrant workers more time to find alternative sponsors, and institute a route to enable victims of exploitation to remain and work in the UK without restriction.
To learn more about our calls for reform, visit our campaigns.