Worker Support Centre

The Worker Support Centre Mid-Year Report is out now. Read the full review of engagement with 417 people in relation to the Seasonal Worker visa in the UK on our website. This includes focus on four main areas affecting those we've supported: Dismissal and pay related pressure; Poor housing; Health and safety hazards; and Inaccessible transfers to alternative employers. https://lnkd.in/e9722K8h Over the course of the past 6 months we've seen a marked increase in contact with our service, and particularly high numbers of workers facing dismissal. We saw double the dismissal cases in June-July 2024 as we did in the same period in 2023. We've taken a lot of actions over this time in order to reach resolution for workers, including support, information, mediation and advocacy for workers. One area of work has included engaging with enforcement authorities - something that has helped us develop a deep understanding of the potential and shortcomings of labour market enforcement in the UK today. We've also worked with UK and Scottish Governments to seek a way forward on un-regulated housing. We've worked with Labour Providers to seek clearer systems for transfers so that workers don't need to seek our help to navigate them. Finally - most importantly we've engaged with workers to develop a shared understanding of the standards they'd like to see in this sector, to identify mechanisms by which their voices can be amplified. Thanks to the Guardian and ITN for covering key issues from this report over the past week. This piece in The Guardian tells the story of some of our work in this area:

New investigation by ITN out on Thursday, revealed workers on the Seasonal Worker visa living in very poor conditions, some paying large sums of money to do so. Worker Support Centre has been investigating seasonal farm worker accommodation over the course of the past three years and has found that this kind of temporary caravan accommodation falls through the gaps of legislation, and as a result is not being routinely independently inspected and no independent standards exist that apply to it. Our Mid-Year Report out this weekend highlights findings from the 81 workers experiencing poor housing that we've supported from Jan-July 2024 alone. We will continue to work with the UK and Scottish Governments to seek: 1. New Housing Standards for temporary worker accommodation. 2. Inspection and enforcement of such standards; and 3. Clarification of workers' status in law with respect to their housing. We will also continue to support those workers that come to us to raise issues with their housing, and take action to highlight unsafe and unhygienic conditions where they exist. https://lnkd.in/eSjHB2qi

The Worker Support Centre is looking for a Treasurer for our Board of Trustees!! We work to prevent labour abuse and human trafficking for labour exploitation by providing support and assistance to workers and by influencing policy change. Whilst we were established in 2023, we've already had a huge impact through our work and there are lots of exciting projects and activities in the pipeline. We've a really lovely Board with a wide range of skills, if you're interested in the role please do get in touch - and we're very happy to discuss also. Please see role description below.

This month the WSC is really excited to be starting our Power and Democratic Accountability Project - a new project that will develop a worker-led model for seasonal farm workers to drive forward policy change. Thanks to the support of the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust, the WSC will conduct ongoing participatory engagement with seasonal migrant farm workers to develop a collective understanding of their experiences in the UK, and to develop priority actions for policy change. WSC peer engagement and outreach workers, with lived experience of work in seasonal agriculture, will lead engagement, with the support of an advisory committee which will bring insights and learning from similar work in comparable contexts. For the first time in the more than 70-year history of migrant workers in UK seasonal agriculture, workers will be supported to create new and claim existing spaces for engagement in policy making, so that workers’ voices and experiences are heard. This project will also contribute to a model for democratic accountability work with temporary migrant workers across labour sectors. Our team are very excited to start this work! For more information do get in touch – support@workersupportcentre.org.uk.

Today we published our Annual Report for 2023. The WSC supports temporary migrant workers in labour sectors characterised by a high-risk of exploitation and ensures workers’ lived experiences inform policy change. Our Annual Report includes data from our work supporting UK seasonal agricultural workers in 2023. Issues raised include non-payment of wages, poor treatment, and illegal fees paid to come to work in the UK. This data represents the largest ever independent study of seasonal agricultural workers' experiences in the UK. From June-December 2023, the WSC supported 405 individuals from over 12 countries worldwide, with 149 cases and 256 enquiries. Of the 149 cases, 74% concerned working conditions. These spanned issues related to pay raised in 26% of cases, including non-payment of wages, or insufficient holiday or sick pay. Health and safety issues were also raised in 17% of cases, including incidences of unaddressed and severe injuries at work. In addition the WSC helped workers with issues related to the “Seasonal Worker visa” scheme. Workers on this visa are sponsored by a licensed Scheme Operator and employed by a farm, this kind of ‘tied’ and ‘temporary’ visa is known to increase risks of exploitation for workers. Of the 149 cases taken forward 24% related to issues with this visa. 15% related to barriers to workers leaving one farm to work on another with large numbers of workers being forced to remain on farms where they faced abuse and risks of exploitation. You can download the full report here https://lnkd.in/e4nSSvkG