February 2025 Newsletter: Government policy at odds with migrant workers
February 28, 2025
With the Seasonal Worker Scheme renewed and the Border Security Bill going through parliament, FLEX is working to challenge these major policy decisions that are set to only make exploitation worse.
Opinion: UK immigration policy is stuck in a race to the bottom
With the new Border Security, Immigration and Asylum Bill in parliament, it is worth reflection on the various pieces of migration legislation over the years that the sector has fought against.
In a new opinion piece for The Big Issue, FLEX CEO Lucila Granada argues that previous objectionable legislation should not now be the bar that we’re trying to revert back to; we have to aim higher than the threshold of precedent, and look to bigger, better ways forward.
New Briefing: Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill: Still a Tool for Exploitation
The gaps in the UK’s systems to prevent, identify and address exploitation, including trafficking and modern slavery, have been well evidenced for years.
The Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill misses a crucial opportunity to drive meaningful change to ensure that all victims of exploitation are protected, whatever their immigration status.
Read the new FLEX briefing exploring how it entirely misses the mark:
Seasonal Worker Scheme Renewal: Government abandoned farm workers
Committing this week to extending the Seasonal Work Scheme for another five years, the Government has effectively abandoned workers on farms in favour of the farm owners who profit from their labour.
This comes after years of significant criticism and concern flagged across the board. This includes UN experts, academics, trade unions and organisations working on modern slavery, migrant rights, worker rights and more. Both government and independent reviews highlight that the current scheme puts workers at risk of serious exploitation and abuse, from placing workers into incredibly high debt, to abusive work practices such as extreme productivity targets going unchecked.
Kate Roberts, Head of Policy at FLEX, has said:
“The farming sector shouldn’t be dependent on exploitation.
“Migrant workers are currently taking the financial risk for UK agriculture. It is all well and good for this Government to talk about workers rights, but until they act on something as evidently broken as the Seasonal Worker Scheme, these words mean nothing.
“Seasonal Worker Visa holders currently have no realistic way to challenge poor working conditions, wage theft or sexual harassment in the workplace. When they face this abuse, the nature of their visa drives them to simply try and bear it for 6 months, and hope that they at least earn enough to not return home in debt.
“The use of these dangerous short term work visas, as well as the decision to turn a blind eye and let it continue, is nothing short of a national disgrace.”
This comes just after Focus on Labour Exploitation joined with partners to submit evidence of the serious levels of abuse that workers on seasonal worker visas are facing. This was issued to the Office of the Director of Labour Market Enforcement (ODLME)
Read the submission here:
In Case You Missed It: Big Issue Changemaker
FLEX is delighted to be one of the Big Issue’s Top 100 Changemakers for 2025, a group of organisations and people voted to be making a tangible, positive impact on society.
We will never stop working to challenge and transform the systems and structures that make workers vulnerable to abuse, until we live in a world free from all forms of labour exploitation.
