"Caring at a Cost," based on responses from over 3,000 migrant care workers, reveals some workers paid more than £20,000 to intermediaries just to secure employment in the UK, while others face overcrowded living conditions and racist abuse in their workplaces. The report, which has received wide coverage in the press, also reveals more than a quarter of workers surveyed were paid below the legal minimum wage, with many struggling to meet basic living expenses.

UNISON General Secretary Christina Mcanea said:

“Care staff who come here from overseas are shoring up a crumbling sector. These workers should be treated with respect, not taken advantage of and abused.

This underlines the urgent need for reform with a national care service and fair pay agreement in social care.”

One care worker – a single mother – sold all her belongings and borrowed from relatives to pay £5,000 in return for the promise of a job. However, there were no shifts when she arrived in the UK and she still has no work.

The findings highlight the global nature of the crisis in care services. With aging populations across many countries, the need for quality care services is increasing. However, instead of investing in public care infrastructure and decent working conditions, many governments are relying on private sector actors which often profit from exploitation of migrant workers.

Huma Haq, PSI Care Organiser emphasized how these findings reflect a broader global crisis in care: 

"The exploitation of migrant care workers in the UK is not an isolated incident but a symptom of a broken system globally where governments have increasingly privatized and underfunded essential care services. Governments must step up and take responsibility for providing quality public care services. This means adequate funding, proper regulation, and ensuring that care workers, whether local or migrant, have full labor rights, decent working conditions and access to unions."

PSI’s report into decent working conditions in the Long Term Care Sector analysed the different migration regimes of countries relying on migrant workers to bolster the care workforce.Migrants largely supplement paid and unpaid care work in higher income, developed countries in the Global North to fill national labour shortages caused by the undervaluation of care work. 

This migration stream from the Global South to the Global North leads to shortages of care workers taking further resources away from already limited provision within the Global South. 

PSI is working with our affiliates such as UNISON and unions in the global south to ensure migrant workers are able to access their full legal rights and are protected from unscrupulous employers and ambiguous government policies. If your union is working to end the exploitation of migrant care workers please send through details to PSI. To find out more about our care work and get involved email huma.haq@world-psi.org