Overseas workers’ treatment akin to human trafficking, MP says
Posted 01 February 2024 - 14:42
Kwasi Kwarteng urges government to provide better protection for overseas health and care workers, citing high fees for recruitment and if staff want to leave their contracts early
The exploitation of overseas health and social care workers is akin to human trafficking, and better protection for these staff members is urgently needed, an MP has said.
Former chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng told ministers at a Westminster Hall debate on 31 January that internationally trained nurses and other health and social care staff were being ‘exploited in a way that none of us wants to see’.
‘Unacceptable’ exit fees and illegal recruitment costs
The MP for Spelthorne highlighted practices by so-called rogue employers and recruitment agencies who have been accused of charging overseas workers thousands of pounds in recruitment fees, or trying to recoup money if staff want to leave their jobs early.
Mr Kwarteng said: ‘Fees owed as a result of workers leaving their contracts early should be reasonable. I have heard reports of fees in excess of £10,000. That is completely unacceptable. In that situation, the employee is being exploited –and it very much has the look and feel almost of extortion.
‘There are [also] reports that rogue international recruitment agencies have extorted – that is a word I use with some degree of caution, but they have extracted payments – [money] from people. That is really a form, dare I say it, of trafficking.’
‘We need to value care work’
Health unions have repeatedly highlighted exploitation of overseas health and care workers, who have reported being trapped in jobs by unfair exit fees or facing threats of deportation amid a surge in suspected modern slavery cases.
Liberal Democrat MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale Tim Farron criticised the recent proposal to ban overseas workers from bringing their family to the UK, warning it would deter staff from coming.
He said: ‘We need to value care work – and we need to reflect that in the pay and conditions people receive. I reiterate that the decision to end their rights to have family with them is cruel and pointless, given those people will not have recourse to public funds anyway.’
‘No staff member should face abuse of any kind’
Health and social care minister Helen Whately said the government’s code of practice for international recruitment of health and social care staff, which sets out ethical recruitment and employment standards that employers must adhere to, was under ‘regular review’.
She said the government had set out stricter rules on repayment clauses in employment contracts and that charging staff recruitment fees was now illegal.
Ms Whately added that guidance was available for prospective overseas workers setting out what they should check in their employment contracts, their working rights and standards, and how to recognise and deal with exploitation.
She said: ‘I want to be categorically clear that no staff member in health or social care should face abuse of any kind, and illegal and unethical international recruitment and employment practices will absolutely not be tolerated.’
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