How the UK Government Can Rectify Its Seasonal Worker Scheme

1 Nov

We have previously penned several LinkedIn posts on how the UK’s seasonal worker scheme is plagued by many issues, including squalid workers’ accommodation,[1] lack of guaranteed minimum paid hours,[2] and, arguably the most consequential of all, high recruitment fees.[3]

According to the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA), a UK Government body empowered to grant or revoke licenses of certain sectoral employment agencies, a licensed employment agency must not charge a fee to a worker for any work-finding services and must not tie those services to any paid service.[4] When it comes to seasonal migrant workers, however, sending countries of seasonal migrant workers may have different rules that apply to recruiters there.

Indonesia is one of the largest countries of origin of seasonal migrant workers in UK[5] and recruiters there are allowed to charge seasonal migrant workers for certain fees. According to an Indonesian regulation, a recruiter is only allowed to charge an outbound seasonal migrant worker up to IDR 19,860,000 and GBP 753.10, or around USD 2,235 for recruitment fees.[6] The recruitment fees include items such as social security, psychological test, police-issued certificate of clearance, UK visa, travelling expenses, and service fee for recruiters.[7] On the other hand, also according to the very same regulation, their employer should only pay IDR 670,000 or around USD 43 for medical checkup fee.[8] While this revised Indonesian regulation was the overhauled version of the pre-2023 one that allowed Indonesian employment agencies to charge a seasonal migrant worker up to IDR 45,000,000 or about USD 2,891,[9] it still puts the recruitment fee burden unfairly on the shoulders of migrant workers.

The reality is even grimmer. Many seasonal migrant workers, including those hailing from Indonesia, had to pay way more than that. An investigation by TBIJ found that workers from six countries, including Indonesia, had paid recruiters as much as £7,500 for seasonal jobs in UK.[10] A separate SCMP report revealed that “Budi”, a seasonal migrant worker from Indonesia, spent more than USD 5,400 on his recruitment fees in 2022.[11] Now, two years after he first stepped onto the British soil, Budi with a UK-based NGO, Anti-Trafficking and Labour Exploitation Unit (ATLEU), filed a lawsuit against the UK Home Office, claiming damages for debts he incurred.[12] Budi further said that state parties at both ends of his migration journey, Indonesia and the UK, were responsible for hardships that he and other migrant seasonal workers endure.[13]

Budi’s sharp criticism represents a common frustration among seasonal migrant workers who are being let down by their home country and the UK. Echoing what our sister organisation, the Remedy Project, called earlier this year, the UK Government should rectify systemic flaws of the seasonal migrant worker visa scheme.[14]

On the prevention side, the UK Government should work with their counterparts in the countries of origin and use its diplomatic leverage to address the issue of recruitment fee burden.

On the enforcement side, the UK Government should consider empowering its authorities, including GLAA, to take more decisive actions against UK employers or employment agencies who are in cahoots with unscrupulous parties in migrant workers’ countries of origin.

On the remediation side, the UK Government should, first and foremost, hear workers’ voices and establish a specialised redressal mechanism for seasonal migrant workers.

Sources:

[1] https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7245367375363989504

[2]https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7240236389227732993/

[3]https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7235166910504394752/

[4] https://www.gla.gov.uk/media/3180/licensing-standards-may-2012-reprinted-june-2017.pdf

[5] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/seasonal-worker-visa-review/review-of-the-seasonal-worker-visa-accessible

[6]https://jdih.bp2mi.go.id//uploads/20230222/20230222105957_889000081_KEPKA_Nomor_28_Tahun_2022_tentang_Biaya_penempatan__PMI_Inggris.pdf

[7] Ibid.

[8] Ibid.

[9] https://www.bbc.com/indonesia/majalah-63860610

[10] https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2023-10-22/all-that-is-missing-is-a-whip-home-office-ignored-migrant-worker-abuses-on-farms/

[11] https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3284241/he-left-indonesia-seeking-better-life-uk-all-he-found-was-debt-and-despair