Better Work: Care Worker Vulnerability in London

Rights Lab project lead: Caroline Emberson. In collaboration with the University of Kent and Focus on Labour Exploitation (FLEX).  
Funder: Trust for London
Duration: February 2021-July 2022
Programme: Business and Economies 

This project aims to raise awareness of, and understand how to prevent, extreme forms of employment exploitation and abuse, including modern slavery. In London, a reliance upon non-British nationals is coupled with a rise in the use of on-line platforms and introductory agencies leading to the emergence of a gig economy for paid care-work. Despite demand outstripping supply, proposed changes to UK immigration policy mean EU nationals hoping to migrate to the UK for jobs paying less than £25,600 a year (a salary threshold that excludes the majority of paid care-work) will no longer be able to do so through official routes. The anticipated rise in an informal job market increases care-worker vulnerability and the potential for employment rights violations—including extreme forms of coercion and abuse such as modern slavery—with migrant communities consistently over-represented in national statistics. Despite this, the working lives of, particularly live-in, paid migrant care-workers, some of whom are circular migrants and many who are extremely isolated, remain unexamined and their voices unheard in national policy debates. Working collaboratively, we will tailor FLEX’s community and peer research models to build evidence of and identify, support and prevent, human rights abuses related to labour exploitation and domestic servitude among paid, live-in migrant care workers in London. The focus throughout is participatory research, advisory-capacity building and advocacy work with paid, live in carers and personal assistants from migrant communities in London.