London Letters | Indian men most exploited for labour: GLAA

 According to the information, the most common vulnerability was the potential victims’ status as an irregular migrant, where there were threats of being handed over to the authorities by the exploiter if they challenged their poor working conditions. (Representative/ File)

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London Letters | Indian men most exploited for labour: GLAA

Indian men between the ages of 25 and 34 years are the most likely victims of potential labour abuse in the UK, according to the latest intelligence report of the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) published earlier this week. The second most common victim nationality group was Romanian, followed by Zimbabwean, Eastern European and Bulgarian within the same age range.

The intelligence report covers the period from January to March 2023 and provides a quarterly update on the GLAA intelligence picture of forced and compulsory labour in the UK, defined as “All work or service which is exacted from any person under the threat of a penalty and for which the person has not offered themselves voluntarily”. This report concerns only modern slavery and human trafficking for labour exploitation and doesn’t cover sexual, criminal exploitation like drugs or forced begging. Where gender is reported, the number of cases reporting exclusively male victims was 64% in this quarter. Exclusively female victims were present in just 8% of cases.

According to the information, the most common vulnerability was the potential victims’ status as an irregular migrant, where there were threats of being handed over to the authorities by the exploiter if they challenged their poor working conditions.

The second most common vulnerability was the potential victim speaking limited or no English, therefore leaving them extremely vulnerable in terms of not being able understand their rights as workers or being able to report any abuse or seek help. This was closely followed by the vulnerability of being tied into a certificate of sponsorship, which led to workers being forced to work for the employer even if the conditions were unacceptable and the employer was using the threat of cancelling the sponsorship if the worker complained.

For this reporting period, the majority of potential exploiters were British followed by Romanians. About 16% of reports suggested an involvement of a recruitment agency in the supply of the potential victim. Half of these cases were linked to the care sectors, and it was suggested that the agency was involved in facilitating the exploitation, via means such as inadequate pay, inflating fees and threats to cancel sponsorships.

Besides care homes, the potential victims were working in car-washes and construction.

“This does not come as a surprise to me. An agent said he would find me work in a care home and charged a hefty sum of £21k to get me a five-year work permit. I am yet to see the face of the care home. There are many like me, who have got the visa to work in the care sector, but either there is no work because the companies were sham, or there were no real vacancies and agents got hefty commissions for the sponsorships. I am now struggling to find any work. I may end up working illegally, despite the visa, for cash and then pay my own taxes to show my employment in the care home,” rues Monica Saini from Nakodar.

“I believe hundreds if not thousands of Indian students, who had come to do a masters’ degree course in England and Wales, were able to get work permit in different care homes across the country after switching their visas. While, many were genuinely employed, with proper work contracts and conditions and without any extra charges, there were thousands of others, who, many Indian agents across Britain lured into care sector. Some did get jobs after paying huge sums, but many were left to fend for themselves, either working for peanuts with no proper contracts or struggling for work to pay their taxes,” says S.K, a midlands-based immigration consultant, who doesn’t wish to reveal his full name.

Talking to The Indian Express, Sukhwinder Singh, President, International Khalsa Organisation, a humanitarian aid and rights organisation, said, “The tragedy is that the Indians haven’t been able to come together like the Black community groups to raise issue that concern our own people. Even in Britain, we are divided into states, regions, language, caste, religions and therefore only offer support to very limited number of people we consider our own. Unless we come together, exploitation and other issues faced by the Indians around the globe will remain unresolved.”

(The writer is a freelance journalist based in London contributing content to digital, print, radio and TV platforms)

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