UK launches crackdown on firms exploiting migrant workers
UK government has announced a crackdown on rogue employers who have been exploiting migrant workers, banning offenders from hiring any more overseas staff.
Businesses who employ migrants under the UK’s sponsorship system will also be prohibited from charging workers for any costs associated with that sponsorship, in a new measure designed to reduce exploitation.
A recent report from the Work Rights Centre, a charity which advises migrant workers, found as many as 177 companies held a license to sponsor migrant workers despite breaking employment law. Many have been accused of exploiting migrant workers by charging them thousands of pounds for visa-related costs and then forcing them to work for under the minimum wage, or failing to provide them with any hours at all.
It comes as levels of migration to the UK have soared in recent years, with a large part of the rise attributable to an influx of workers as job vacancies ballooned. This has caused political tension — fears that the UK’s public services couldn’t cope with the rise in migration stoked far-right riots over the summer, which saw attacks on foreign nurses and hotels housing asylums seekers.
(Join our ETNRI WhatsApp channel for all the latest updates)
Labour has vowed to reduce net migration, and official figures to be released later Thursday will likely show that number falling. But large sectors of the economy, such as health and social care, are still heavily reliant on low-paid foreign workers.
Artificial Intelligence(AI)
AI and Analytics based
