Written Evidence May. 14 2024
Inquiry: Modern Slavery Act 2015Found: Under the sponsorship system the Home Office grants visa sponsorship licences to employers for workers
Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberavon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many workers who entered the UK on the horticultural Seasonal Worker visa worked for fewer than 20 weeks, in the most latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Migrant workers are entitled to the same rights and protection under employment legislation as resident seasonal workers.
As part of their duties as Seasonal Worker operators, sponsors provide seasonal workers with information about their rights and how to raise concerns. The Home Office monitors this by interviewing workers and engaging with sponsors to check what information is provided and in what format.
The majority of workers also undertake pre-departure orientation courses, developed by the International Organisation for Migration.
The Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) also produce and distribute similar material at source of recruitment.
The overwhelming majority of migrant complaints are minor and are swiftly addressed by a worker’s scheme operator. Any significant breach of employment rights would be a matter of UK employment law. The Home Office does not have any published data on this particular matter.
The Home Office does not publish data on the length of employment of seasonal workers.
Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberavon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether workers in the UK on the horticultural seasonal worker visa have access to employment law remedies; what information his Department provides to workers in the UK on the horticultural seasonal worker visa on their rights in the workplace; and how many workers who were issued a horticultural seasonal worker visa for the UK received redress following a complaint about violations of their rights in the workplace in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Migrant workers are entitled to the same rights and protection under employment legislation as resident seasonal workers.
As part of their duties as Seasonal Worker operators, sponsors provide seasonal workers with information about their rights and how to raise concerns. The Home Office monitors this by interviewing workers and engaging with sponsors to check what information is provided and in what format.
The majority of workers also undertake pre-departure orientation courses, developed by the International Organisation for Migration.
The Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) also produce and distribute similar material at source of recruitment.
The overwhelming majority of migrant complaints are minor and are swiftly addressed by a worker’s scheme operator. Any significant breach of employment rights would be a matter of UK employment law. The Home Office does not have any published data on this particular matter.
The Home Office does not publish data on the length of employment of seasonal workers.
Mentions:
1: Lord Oates (LD - Life peer) Senior Home Office staff and managers told the inspector’s team that Home Office guidance is not sufficiently - Speech Link
2: None Why is it that the Home Office, in all its wisdom, seems not to have recognised that this would be one - Speech Link
3: Baroness Hamwee (LD - Life peer) The Home Office explained that consultation would be disproportionate because of the“marginal benefits - Speech Link
4: Lord Sharpe of Epsom (Con - Life peer) Since this time, the Home Office have issued over 100,000 visas to care workers and senior care workers - Speech Link
Written Evidence May. 14 2024
Inquiry: Modern Slavery Act 2015Found: The responsibility lies with the Home Office.
Written Evidence May. 14 2024
Inquiry: Modern Slavery Act 2015Found: Previous to this we participated in the Home Office pilot for identifying survivors of trafficking
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an assessment of the potential implications for his policies of the report by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism entitled Thousands of care workers risk deportation after employers breach rules, published on 11 May 2024.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Government will carefully consider the evidence put forward by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism. The Home Office does not tolerate exploitation in the labour market and our systems are designed to ensure exploitative employers are unable to sponsor migrant workers. Any decision to revoke an employer’s licence will only be done in circumstances where they have failed to meet the obligations and duties such as ensuring workers are being paid the correct salary and given guaranteed work.
We are working hard across government and with the sector to support care workers who wish to seek alternative employment with a Home Office approved sponsor and remain in the UK.
Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberavon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when his Department last reviewed the potential risk of abuse and exploitation of migrant workers under the overseas domestic worker visa rules.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Home Office keeps immigration route policy under review, including that for the Overseas Domestic Worker route. We have introduced a number of reforms to the route for overseas domestic workers since 2015; designed to build on existing safeguards and in line with the broader immigration system. Employers of overseas domestic workers must act in accordance with UK employment law, and workers who find themselves a victim of modern slavery are protected by the National Referral Mechanism and may be eligible to apply for permission to stay as a domestic worker who is a victim of modern slavery.
Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberavon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the conclusions of the Independent Review of the Overseas Domestic Workers Visa by James Ewins, published on 16 December 2015, relating to protection of employment rights of migrant workers in private households, if he will (a) review and (b) reverse changes to the rules for that visa.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Home Office keeps immigration route policy under review, including that for the Overseas Domestic Worker route. We have introduced a number of reforms to the route for overseas domestic workers since 2015; designed to build on existing safeguards and in line with the broader immigration system. Employers of overseas domestic workers must act in accordance with UK employment law, and workers who find themselves a victim of modern slavery are protected by the National Referral Mechanism and may be eligible to apply for permission to stay as a domestic worker who is a victim of modern slavery.
Written Evidence May. 14 2024
Inquiry: Modern Slavery Act 2015Found: MSA0068 - Modern Slavery Act 2015 Office of the Director of Labour Market Enforcement Written Evidence