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Seasonal workers harvest salad on a UK farm ready for delivery to supermarket chains
Human Rights

Trapped in work

Lifting the lid on exploitation faced by migrant workers in the UK's visa system

MAJOR INVESTIGATIONS

11.03.24

Trapped in work

Visa system forces care workers to stay silent on rape and abuse

As migrant carers are banned from bringing family members to the UK, TBIJ reveals how broken visa system traps workers in harrowing situations

Published with
Julia Quecaño Casimiro leans on a tree stump in a wood

22.10.23

Trapped in work

‘All that is missing is a whip’: Home Office ignored migrant worker abuses on farms

Inspectors heard hundreds of allegations of threats, wage theft, racism and appalling conditions from seasonal workers at farms across the UK, but nothing was done

Published with

13.04.23

Trapped in work

‘It’s almost the same as living on the street’: this is how people picking your vegetables have to live

Forced to share beds and live in freezing caravans with leaking ceilings, all while paying more per square foot than for a flat in London – migrant farm workers reveal their shocking, squalid living c...

A worker on an asparagus farm pushes a barrow

27.05.22

Trapped in work

Migrant fruit pickers charged thousands in illegal fees to work on UK farms

Labourers from Nepal say they paid third-party agencies as much as £3,000 to secure six-month job

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UPDATES

Seasonal workers harvest salad on a UK farm ready for delivery to supermarket chains

12.01.24

Trapped in work

UK government ‘breaching international law’ with seasonal worker scheme, says UN envoy

The Home Office has been found to be failing to investigate ‘clear indicators of forced labour’

07.12.23

Trapped in work

Ban on family members ‘will force migrant care workers into poverty’

Care is the only industry which will be covered by the ban on family members, leading to criticism that the move is discriminatory

Migrant workers weeding a salad field on a farm in Tarleton, Lancashire

06.11.23

Our Impact

New report urges stronger protections for UK’s seasonal workers

House of Lords report cites TBIJ investigation that revealed seasonal workers faced abuse, threats of deportation, wage theft and racism

A farm worker picks strawberries in a poly tunnel at a UK farm

26.10.23

Trapped in work

Watchdog criticises Home Office for dropping farm worker visa review

The government has confirmed it will not publish a promised review despite calls from non-profits, academics and its own independent inspector

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