FLEX, Voice of Domestic Workers and CAS Analytics are pleased to announce a new research project exploring how reporting can be made safer and fairer for migrant workers in the UK’s domestic work and horticulture sectors.

Using a Feminist Participatory Action Research (FPAR) approach, the project will look at the barriers workers face when reporting problems at work, where they feel safe seeking support and what safeguards they need to report abuse without fear of losing their employment or facing immigration consequences.

We will also explore how trust can be built in reporting mechanisms and emerging enforcement structures, including the Fair Work Agency, and the role secure reporting could play in protecting migrant workers.

What is FPAR?

Feminist Participatory Action Research (FPAR) is an approach that places the knowledge, experiences and perspectives of the people and communities involved at the centre of the research.

It aims not only to understand the issues affecting a community, but also to support those most affected to generate knowledge and advocate for meaningful change.

This project builds on FLEX’s previous FPAR work in the hospitality, cleaning, care and app-based delivery sectors.

Read more about FLEX’s FPAR approach and previous research.

FLEX will work with Voice of Domestic Workers on the domestic work strand and with CAS Analytics on the horticulture strand. Together, we will work alongside peer researchers with experience in these sectors.

Peer researchers will be involved throughout the project—from shaping the research questions and methods to collecting evidence, developing recommendations, sharing the findings and advocating for change.

Why is this work needed?

The UK relies heavily on short-term and restrictive visa routes to recruit workers, particularly in domestic work and horticulture.

Research and analysis have repeatedly shown how the design and implementation of the UK’s Overseas Domestic Worker visa and Seasonal Worker visa can place workers at greater risk of exploitation.

At the same time, workers in both sectors have few practical and safe routes through which to report problems or seek help. Many fear that reporting abuse could put their current or future employment, income or immigration status at risk.

One significant gap is the lack of secure reporting mechanisms in the UK.

Secure reporting—sometimes called “safe reporting” or a “firewall”—refers to procedures and practices that protect an individual from having their personal information shared automatically with the Home Office or Immigration Enforcement when they report a crime as a victim or witness, unless they request this or there is a legal duty to do so.

This is important because information-sharing between public authorities and immigration enforcement can have serious consequences for people with insecure immigration status. These can include detention, removal or deportation, family separation, loss of employment and income, and housing insecurity.

Without appropriate safeguards, many migrant workers are reluctant to report crimes or exploitation at work. Those responsible for abuse can use this fear as a means of coercion and control.

Through this project, FLEX, Voice of Domestic Workers and CAS Analytics will work alongside peer researchers to develop evidence and recommendations grounded in workers’ experiences.

By understanding what makes reporting feel safe, accessible and trustworthy, we aim to help shape reporting mechanisms and enforcement structures that migrant workers can approach safely and without fear.

About the project collaborators

Focus on Labour Exploitation (FLEX)

FLEX is a UK charity working to end labour exploitation by challenging and transforming the systems and structures that make workers vulnerable to abuse.

FLEX conducts research, advocacy, coalition and capacity building, and strategic communications.

Over the past 10 years, FLEX has been at the forefront of efforts to prevent labour abuses, protect the rights of exploited and at-risk workers, and promote best-practice responses to labour exploitation in an increasingly challenging political environment.

Our current work focuses on making migration routes safer, strengthening the enforcement of labour standards, improving accountability in supply chains and ensuring workers’ views and lived experiences inform policy solutions.

Voice of Domestic Workers

Voice of Domestic Workers is a UK charity run by and for migrant domestic workers. It provides education, training, healthcare and legal support, while campaigning for justice, dignity and stronger rights and protections.

The organisation works to ensure migrant domestic workers’ experiences and voices inform the policies and decisions that affect their lives.

Its advocacy includes campaigning for the restoration of rights removed through changes to the Overseas Domestic Worker visa and for stronger protections against abuse and exploitation.

Visit the Voice of Domestic Workers website.

CAS Analytics

CAS Analytics is a consulting and research company based in Central Asia that specialises in migration and labour-market research and data analysis.

Its work includes analysing migration trends in the region, the growing demand for temporary labour migration routes such as the UK’s Seasonal Worker Scheme, how workers can assert their rights, pre-departure training and orientation, access to education and employment for people with disabilities, and the experiences of women migrant workers.

CAS Analytics has previously worked with FLEX on research involving surveys and interviews with Kyrgyz and Kazakh workers.

Its involvement in this project will support engagement with workers in Central Asia. This is particularly important because restrictions attached to the Seasonal Worker visa make it difficult for workers on the route to participate in paid peer-research work while they are in the UK.

Visit the CAS Analytics website.