Estimating the Nature and Extent of Labour Exploitation among Domestic Workers in the UK
Funder: University of Nottingham
Duration: October 2022 - September 2023
Project Lead: Caroline Emberson
Programme: Business and Economies
About the project
The isolated nature of domestic work, combined with restrictive visa arrangements, are recognised to create conditions in which British nationals and non-British nationals may be vulnerable to labour exploitation, including severe forms such as domestic servitude. While the reasons for, and barriers to combating domestic servitude have been explored in the law and justice literature, to date, there have been few attempts to estimate the nature and extent of such abuse in the UK. Funded by the University of Nottingham under its Nottingham Research Fellowship scheme, this project adopts an innovative respondent sampling strategy to capture and estimate the size of the hidden population of those trapped in domestic servitude and other abusive conditions, and aims specifically to provide a better understanding of ‘how many’ and ‘to what extent’ domestic workers in the UK may have experienced such mistreatment.
The unique sampling approach adopted in this project will allow us to survey networks of domestic workers to estimate population characteristics and, thus, to improve understanding of the landscape of labour exploitation among domestic workers in the UK.
The research will answer three key questions:
- To what extent are domestic workers exposed to different levels of labour exploitation risk?
- How widespread and how common are these abuses?
- Who is more likely to be at risk, and how might the domestic workers in these at-risk groups be characterised?
As a result, findings will not only provide a more accurate estimation of the numbers of domestic workers at risk in the UK and the nature and extent of potential abuse, but will also provide researchers and policymakers with a better means and evidence to test potential solutions and develop pathways to make domestic work in the UK a healthier sector in which to work. The methods and approaches developed here are also expected to have applications in other sectors, in the UK and beyond.
Further information
Please contact Selim Yilmaz at Selim.Yilmaz@nottingham.ac.uk.
Download our reports:
Briefing: How do we ensure domestic workers in the UK enjoy the same labour and employment rights as other workers
Exploring the Nature of Labour Exploitation among Domestic Workers in the UK
Adult Social Care Procurement: Evaluating the Modern Slavery Risks in the UK