When Indian office manager Maya heard of an opportunity to work as a carer in Britain she jumped at the chance to gain overseas experience and send money home, but she is now heavily in debt and says she and colleagues were “treated like slaves”.
The mother-of-two is among tens of thousands of overseas carers who have arrived in Britain under an initiative launched in 2022 to plug massive staff shortages in the country’s creaking social care system.
But reports of exploitation have sky-rocketed since the scheme’s introduction, with one migration expert describing the care sector as “a complete wild west”.
Maya and other care workers told Context they ended up working long days for little money after paying thousands of pounds to an agent in India to secure jobs with a care company in the north of England.
They said a climate of fear left staff terrified of speaking up in case they were sacked, which would put them at risk of deportation because their visa was tied to their employment.
“We’ve thought about going back to India but how would we survive with so much debt? We’re trapped,” said Maya, who asked to use a pseudonym for fear of repercussions.
“I pledged my home to the bank to get the loan to come…
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