Councils in UK asked to protect healthcare workers employed by care homes by signing Charter

LONDON Nov 5: Councils in the UK are being urged to sign a new charter to tackle the exploitation of migrant workers, says Unison, a British trade union.

Signatory local authorities will ensure contracted care providers and/or agencies adhere to certain agreed terms and conditions. The Charter also asks the local authorities to, as a last resort, to apply to the Home Office for a licence to sponsor migrant care workers.

“Signatory local authorities will identify or become an employer (sponsor) of last resort for migrant care workers who have been victimised or had their employment terminated through no fault of their own. For example, following the liquidation of a care provider or the suspension of the provider’s licence to sponsor workers by the Home Office.

Care workers based across the UK have worked with the Unison union to shape the charter.

The migrant care workers charter is an agreement designed by care workers and the trade union Unison to prevent the exploitation of people on sponsored visas – and Salford council is the first in the UK to sign up to it.

Salford mayor becomes the first to sign a new migrant care workers charter, created with the help of migrant workers themselves

The immigration status of people on post-Brexit sponsored health and care worker visas and skilled worker visas rests on them having a licensed employer. If they lose their job, the Home Office can cancel their visa, giving them 60 days to find a new sponsoring employer, apply for a different visa, or leave the country.

Union organisers say this means care workers who have sold everything to come to the UK, often to work with people with dementia or complex needs, are vulnerable to exploitation by under-scrutinised employers.

The charter includes a commitment that signatories, such as Salford council, will identify or act as an ‘‘employer of last resort” for care workers who have been victimised, or whose migration status is jeopardised after losing a job through no fault of their own, helping them to stay in the UK. Signatories also commit to creating an “ethical recruiter list” to stop rogue employers getting public money.

Salford’s elected mayor, Paul Dennett, said it was an honour to be the first signatory to a charter that was a “thorough step” towards tackling examples of persecution and victimisation that care workers from overseas were “experiencing far too frequently”.

He added: “I hope many other local authorities across the country, especially Labour-controlled ones who have a historic responsibility to work hand in hand with trade unions, commit to [it] just as we have, and begin the fightback against the exploitative conditions in this sector, because ultimately, better conditions for care workers mean better standards of care for residents.”

The charter
The charter has seven steps to protect migrant social care workers:
1. Fair and equitable treatment
2. Decent housing
3. No agency or recruitment fees
4. No victimisation for trade union activity
5. Councils to create an ethical recruiter list to stop exploitative employers getting public money
6. ‘Wraparound safety at work’ that acknowledges issues that may be faced by migrant workers at times of social unrest
7. Signatories identifying as an ’employer of last resort’ for migrant workers who have their job ended through no fault of their own.

The migrant worker charter launched by the union aims to prevent social care staff from becoming victims of modern slavery when they travel from overseas to work in the region. It highlights ways in which local authorities can help protect migrant care workers. These include ensuring all contracted care providers publish an annual ‘modern slavery statement’, a document detailing the steps taken to prevent slavery and human trafficking taking place in their organisation.

Another key recommendation is that the authority becomes licensed by the Home Office to sponsor migrant care staff. This will allow councils to offer employment to workers who have been victimised or whose jobs have been terminated through no fault of their own, adds the union.

UNISON says this would offer a lifeline to migrant workers who often struggle to find a new sponsor when they leave or lose a job, including when a care company goes into liquidation. Staff are legally required to be sponsored by a company licensed by the Home Office and must return overseas if they do not find a new sponsor within 60 days.

The charter also commits local authorities to ensuring migrant care staff receive fair workers’ rights, and are told which unions operate within their workplace.

The announcement of the charter comes just weeks after UNISON highlighted the extent of migrant care worker exploitation in the region. The union found more than 30 companies across Yorkshire and Humberside had licences revoked in the past year, affecting thousands of migrant staff.