In an event in Parliament this month, FLEX launched “Unravelling The Nets: An examination of the seafarer visa policies and their impact on migrant fishers in the UK”.

This novel report looks at the visa system used by migrant fishing workers in the UK, which has received little scrutiny before now. It draws out the dangerous dependencies built into the system, and highlights that risk is set to grow exponentially due to policy decisions being rolled out over 2026.

The event was attended by MPs, Peers, regulators, producers, retailers, legal experts, academics, NGOs and more.

Fishing visas: The issue in brief

On the other hand, the Skilled Worker visa is the only route allowing foreign nationals to work legally within UK territorial waters. Changes introduced in July 2025 raised eligibility thresholds for this visa, requiring earning over £40k and a high degree of proficiency in English.

It is expected that further changes coming into effect in December 2026 will mean that migrant fishers will no longer be able to access the Skilled Worker Visa at all. Migrant fishers, and the fishing industry, will all rely on the Code 7 stamp, and the risks of exploitation that that entails.

In the discussion amongst these experts, there was a clear consensus established: we must learn the lessons of previous visa systems (such as for overseas domestic and seasonal agriculture workers) and implement the solutions we know would work.

This includes a specific Fishing Visa which recognises fishers as workers and includes options to access rights and challenge exploitation in practice, and ensuring the upcoming Fair Work Agency looks at fishing as a priority for labour market enforcement.

In December of this year, new rules coming into effect will make the skilled worker visa inaccessible for migrant fishers to work in the UK. This is a real concern: workers will be driven onto the transit route, criminalising them if they fish inside UK waters and removing practical options to challenge  labour exploitation.

The government must act swiftly to bring a fishing workers visa into effect, to formally recognise fishers as workers and help end the misuse and overreliance on a route that puts workers at high risk of labour exploitation.

Any new visa must contain options, such as switching employers and renewal, to ensure all workers on the visa can access rights in practice and challenge exploitation. This is key to the government’s commitment to make work pay for all workers and ensure the provisions in the government’s flagship Employment Rights Bill apply to all workers.

Great Ormond Street Hospital: Landmark Tribunal Win

The recent Employment Appeal Tribunal ruling in favour of cleaners at Great Ormond Street Hospital is a landmark moment for outsourced and in-house workers across the UK.

The Tribunal found that outsourced cleaners- the majority from Black and Asian backgrounds- were kept on inferior pay and conditions despite doing work equivalent to in-house NHS roles.

This reflects what facilities workers have been telling FLEX for years. Nearly half of outsourced cleaners in our survey reported being treated differently at work because of a protected characteristic.

In focus groups, outsourced cleaners described how race and nationality shape day-to-day treatment:

• “It is always the Latino people that are being trampled on by supervisors and managers.”
• “They said, ‘Let’s put the morenita [black woman] to clean the toilets, the pretty one to clean the front and reception.’”

For businesses, this ruling is a reminder that inequality based on race and nationality in outsourced roles often emerges in everyday practices. For FLEX, it reinforces that using worker-centred approaches in our work with businesses is key to understanding day-to-day realities, driving improvements, and reducing risk.