Migrant fruit pickers saddled with debts of up to £5,500 to come to UK through government scheme, report finds

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Migrant fruit pickers coming to the UK to work on farms are being saddled with debts of up to £5,500 earlier than they arrive, a report into the seasonal employee visa has discovered.

The employees, many of whom come from central Asian international locations, are paying £1,231 on common to middlemen who assist them get work through the UK government’s seasonal employee scheme. Those from Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Nepal and Indonesia are forking out essentially the most to come to the UK for work, with many returning to their house international locations in a worse monetary scenario than after they began.

Most employees interviewed by researchers – 72 per cent – reported taking out a mortgage to cowl the prices of coming to the UK. One 32-year-old girl from Kazakhstan, named within the report as Amina, advised lecturers: “A lot of people in Kazakhstan have sold their belongings or their assets just to have enough money to come here. Hoping that it would be better here and can earn more money.

“Can you imagine? Sold everything they owned. There are some people who leave their jobs to come here, because they are told that it would be better here. They see it on TikTok, Telegram or Instagram videos and everything looks perfect and beautiful. But once they arrive here, it’s completely different. It is just an image, a deception”.

The seasonal employee scheme permits UK growers to rent round 45,000 folks a yr on six-month visas. An investigation by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and The Independent uncovered proof final yr that agricultural employees who got here to the UK had been publicly humiliated, not paid for all of the hours they labored, and compelled to stay in substandard circumstances.

In a brand new report, researchers at Focus on Labour Exploitation (FLEX) interviewed 83 migrant employees and received 399 survey responses from these on the seasonal employee visa route between June 2022 and October 2023. Two in 5 employees reported receiving a contract in a language they didn’t perceive. Recruitment of employees from Central Asia is now nearly 3 times greater than in Europe, with Kyrgyzstan rising because the main nationality among the many employees.

Oksana, a 49-year-old girl from Ukraine, stated: “I would appreciate if we were told the truth before coming here. Otherwise, people will stop coming here for work. Usually people arrive, work for a bit and then [try] to leave to a different farm.”

Several employees stated that they had paid a job discovering payment or had been charged by an company to entry software programs which are free to use.

Safiya, 44, from Kazakhstan, stated: “I was really struggling financially and I had to borrow money from my neighbours and relatives. I paid £600 to the third party who arranged everything for me.” Amir, 48, additionally from Kazakhstan, advised researchers that he took out a mortgage from the financial institution to cowl the prices of coming to the UK, however that he hadn’t paid it again but.

Mansur, 32, from Kazakhstan, added: “People are risking their assets and are even selling their belongings or anything they can to be able to come here with a hope to earn more money than they have just invested by selling their stuff. A lot of people have done that, sold their stuff, took out loans. Everyone here on the farm has taken out a loan from the bank in their country of origin to get here.”

One case employee at an organisation supporting migrant employees stated that some fruit pickers had been returning to their house international locations with a better debt than after they arrived.

Oliver Fisher, Research Manager at FLEX stated:“The findings of this research indicate that a large number of people on the scheme are being subjected to preventable risks, including risks of deception. We know where the risk areas are on the visa route and the research backs up what we have been saying to government for years.”

A Home Office spokesperson stated: “The welfare of visa holders is of paramount importance, including in the seasonal workers scheme, and we are clamping down on poor working conditions and exploitation.

“The seasonal workers route has been running for four years and each year improvements have been made to stop exploitation and clamp down on poor working conditions while people are in the UK. We will always take decisive action where we believe abusive practices are taking place or the conditions of the route are not met.”