What does the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill mean for exploited migrant workers?

In the King’s Speech delivered on 17 July 2024, the Labour government signalled its intention to pass a new flagship immigration bill to “modernise the asylum and immigration system, establishing a new Border Security Command and delivering enhanced counter-terror powers to tackle organised immigration crime”. Last week, we finally got sight of this new legislation as the government introduced the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill in Parliament.

In this short briefing, we examine some of the key features of the bill and what it will mean for exploited workers. While the bill removes some of the most draconian policies of the previous government, including the proposal to send asylum seekers to Rwanda and exclude people arriving in the UK irregularly from accessing modern slavery protections, it does nothing to mitigate the risk of exploitation under the work sponsorship system. 

This is a vast oversight given the number of workers exploited by their visa sponsors, but also an area where other countries have successfully adopted worker safeguards. We recommend three key policies that would enable this bill to plug the gap in worker protections. 

1. Adopt a Workplace Justice Visa to empower migrant workers to report and pursue exploitative employers. 

We’ve previously called for the government to investigate how it could pilot a similar initiative to the Australian style “Workplace Justice Visa”, a measure that would allow exploited migrant workers to stay and work in the country lawfully whilst they enforce their employment rights, for example through litigation in the Employment Tribunal.

The call to explore the feasibility of a UK Workplace Justice Visa has also been echoed recently by the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner and the Director for Labour Market Enforcement in oral evidence given to the Business and Trade Select Committee.

2. Prevent automatic data-sharing to safeguard migrant workers.

Frustratingly, although the bill does address the issue of data sharing in the context of immigration, there are no measures related to secure or safe reporting. These are measures that would prevent the automatic exchange of information pertaining to an exploited individual’s immigration status with enforcement authorities, allowing them to safely report exploitation.

3. Reverse the criminalisation of work in the Immigration Act 2016. 

The offence of illegal working is problematic because it stifles the ability of exploited workers to report labour exploitation without risking reprisal by the state. It also places immigration enforcement at a higher level of priority than tackling exploitation.

Other states have begun to recognise that criminalising work, particularly when migrant workers have no other means of supporting themselves, is a futile exercise and does little but hide exploitation from the view of state enforcement bodies. Australia, for example, recently passed a law repealing the criminal offence of working in breach of visa conditions or working after the expiry of a visa, confirming that workplace protections apply to all workers.