Evidence has been mounting that carers who come to the UK on the health & care visa are being subjected to exploitation & fraud.

We can now reveal this is in large part due to a visa design that punishes workers for whistleblowing🧵

CW:references to rape
thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2024-0…
Over the past few months @tbij & @CitizensAdvice have gathered testimony from nearly 175 care workers, working at more than 80 care providers.

They all faced some form of exploitation, including wage theft, being charged up to £30,000 in recruitment fees, & even rape.

1/ Yesterday there was a fascinating session of the @HLHorticulture committee looking at exploitation on the UK's seasonal worker visa scheme. There were some shocking revelations, which you probably missed because it got ZERO press coverage. So here is a 🧵 with some highlights. 2/ First off, @KR0b3rts presented some preliminary findings of @FocusOnLabour research into the scheme. They found that the LOWEST total costs paid by Indonesian workers who came to work on farms in the UK in 2022 was £3000!

NEW: Imagine living with five people in a caravan that's smaller than a one-bedroom flat & together paying up to £2000 a month in rent.

That's how migrant farm workers live in the UK. In the worst cases in freezing cold, mouldy & mice-infested caravans.🧵
thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2023-0… Twenty workers who came to the UK on the government’s seasonal worker visa told @TBIJ and @WORCrights that they had problems with their housing. Issues ranged from leaking pipes to having to share beds with strangers. This is a caravan room that was shared by two men.

Nepali workers took on thousands of pounds of debt to come work on UK farms. They expected six months of work, but a few weeks after they arrived they were told to return home. Some were even threatened with being blacklisted.

My latest with @shanti_das
theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/n… Many quit their jobs in Nepal to take on work through the UK's seasonal worker visa scheme, now they are left thousands of pounds in debt.

One of the workers told us it would take him four to five years to earn enough money in Nepal to pay back the debt.
theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/n…

📢THE YEAR IN WORK📢

So here's my rundown on this year’s biggest developments in the world of work. From Covid, to attempts to regulate the gig economy, 2021 has seen massive changes to how we work, and how we respond to these challenges. Here are the 12 biggest stories... 1⃣ THE GIG IS UP!

2021 has been a real turning point in the fight for #gigeconomy rights. The year kicked off with the UK Supreme Court ruling that Uber drivers were entitled to employment rights, followed weeks later by Deliveroo’s disastrous stock market debut.

I've spent the last few months speaking to workers that make ready meals, dips and pastries at @Bakkavor, a major supplier for @Tesco, @sainsburys, @waitrose & others. They told me some of the most horrific bullying stories I've ever heard [THREAD] vice.com/en_uk/article/… One woman faced such chronic bullying over several months that she eventually had a panic attack and had to be picked up by an ambulance. She brought a grievance against the manager, but HR did nothing. vice.com/en_uk/article/…

For the last few months I have been speaking to former employees of one of the darlings of the UK's fintech sector @RevolutApp about what it was like to work there. The picture they painted was grim. This is the story wired.co.uk/article/revolu… It all started off with these revelations by @lalalalia in @eldiarioes. That a Spanish applicant had been asked to work for free recruiting clients in order to have a chance at getting a job at the company.

https://twitter.com/mellino/status/1054473108936122368?lang=en