Foreign workers at ‘increasing risk of exploitation’ as UK sees sharp fall in work visas

Workers coming to the UK are at increasing risk of exploitation, as new migration statistics reveal the number of work visas issued fell by a third, and the number of work visas for health and social care declined by more than 80%.

According to Home Office data released on Thursday (27 February), 2024 saw an increase in the number of people claiming asylum in the UK, up 18% to 108,000 and placing the UK the fifth highest in Europe, with one third of those arriving via small boat. 

Prime minister Keir Starmer has accused the previous Conservative government of using Brexit “to turn Britain into a one-nation experiment in open borders”, and has said politicians were afraid of admitting “an island nation needs to control its borders”.

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Dr Dora-Olivia Vicol, CEO of the Work Rights Centre, warned that a rise in the number of high-risk sponsored visas for foreign-born workers put precariously employed, non-unionised migrant workers at risk of exploitation.

“As recruiters struggle to fill vacancies in construction, hospitality and sales, they are increasingly looking abroad for workers with the required skill-sets. Thousands of people in workplaces across the UK are tied to low-paid roles, where sponsor employers wield dangerous levels of power,” Vicol said.

“We have seen foreign-born convenience store workers, chefs and construction workers forced to endure overwork, underpay and threatening behaviour all while tied to their employer. Tying low-paid workers to their employers comes with the inevitable risk of exploitation in any sector, whether it’s those preparing our meals or building our houses.”

There was a 12% increase in the number of people entering immigration detention, reversing a downward trend since 2015, and a 28% increase in enforced returns.

Starmer’s decision to cut the foreign aid budget to fund an increase in defence spending has led to warnings that almost half of this reduced budget could be spent on asylum hotels. Experts cautioned against putting the quality of asylum decisions at risk.

“If the Home Office wants to end the use of hotels, it will need to double down on efforts to improve the speed and quality of decision-making. Applications should be triaged early and decisions for high-grant nationalities should be streamlined,” said Marley Morris, associate director for migration, trade and communities at the IPPR think tank said.

“Crucially, the government must take care that its efforts to accelerate decision-making do not result in these cases simply shifting over into appeals. A giant appeals backlog could fatally undermine the government’s efforts to close asylum hotels. This means decision quality should be just as important as speed.”

Sile Reynolds, head of asylum advocacy at Freedom from Torture, said: “Recent Home Office data on quality suggests that decision makers are failing to meet their own standards. If quality is sacrificed in the pursuit of speed, then this government fails in its ambition to restore order and competency to the asylum system and risks sending survivors back into the hands of their torturers.”

For universities, the number of sponsored study visas fell by 14% to 393,000, although remained 46% higher than 2019. The number of visas given to dependents of students rose by 85% to 22,000. A total of 65% of student visas issued in the last four years have been for masters courses.

Budget pressures are forcing a reported one in four UK universities to make job cuts, with the University of Edinburgh revealing it faces a £140m black hole.

“International students keep our universities afloat financially while also improving their quality by diversifying the student body,” Nick Hillman, director of the Higher Education Policy Institute think tank, told Big Issue. “So it’s a big shame that the previous government’s policies caused this drop off and it’s an equally big shame that the new government have not only refused to reverse course but have also recently started to float the idea of further crackdowns.”

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