Migrant care workers exposed to exploitation

A new report highlights significant vulnerability of live-in migrant care workers to labour exploitation and modern slavery.

The vulnerability of paid migrant live-in care workers in London to modern slavery followed an 18-month study researching the working conditions of migrant, live-in workers in the capital. It was conducted by Nottingham Rights Lab in partnership with Focus on Labour Exploitation, the Institute of Public Care at Oxford Brookes University, and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

The report identified a number of risks and drivers of exploitation that put these workers at greater risk, including:

• most were on zero hours contracts or self-employed with little security;

• emotional pressure, sleep deprivation, lack of breaks and being made to run errands in their own time or carry out non-caring duties for the whole family, such as gardening. Many experienced racism/xenophobia and sexual harassment;

• many struggled to take time off when sick or take regular breaks. And carers often worked and lived in inadequate and unsanitary conditions; and

• participants reported that peer support and awareness of the risks of exploitation maintained their resilience in the face of challenges.

Dr Agnes Turnpenny of the Institute of Public Care at Oxford Brookes University described live-in care workers as “the hidden workforce of social care”. And she stressed the importance of creating safe and dignified conditions for these workers.