Undercover investigation reveals ‘money for care jobs rip-off’
- Watchdog warned there had been ‘widespread abuse’ of the system since 2022
Vulnerable care residents are being taken care of by unqualified migrants as rogue operators exploit Home Office loopholes, a Mail investigation reveals.
Scant checks within the determined bid to fill enormous vacancies imply untrained and overworked employees, generally barely capable of converse English, are left caring for the aged within the under-strain sector.
Our probe into the ‘money for care jobs scandal’ discovered some outfits cost abroad candidates ‘work finder charges’ of as much as £20,000 to assist them get a visa permitting them to come back – and keep – right here.
One ‘adviser’, a Baptist minister, advised an undercover reporter that for £9,000 he might assist her organize a job in simply three days – with ‘100 per cent’ success assured.
A watchdog warned there had been ‘widespread abuse’ of the system since early 2022 after ministers relaxed immigration guidelines to plug mass job vacancies.
One ‘adviser’, a Baptist minister, advised an undercover reporter that for £9,000 he might assist her organize a job in simply three days – with ‘100 per cent’ success assured
Vacancies in grownup social care hit a report 164,000 in 2021/22, prompting the Government to decrease the barrier for such employees to be allowed to work within the UK (inventory picture)
Vacancies in grownup social care hit a report 164,000 in 2021/22, prompting the Government to decrease the barrier for such employees to be allowed to work within the UK.
The change meant the full variety of overseas staff given permission to come back to Britain rocketed to a report excessive final yr, figures revealed final week – pushed by a 349 per cent rise in care employee visas to greater than 89,000. The largest numbers come from India, Nigeria and Zimbabwe.
Alongside the ‘unprecedented’ surge of abroad staff into the sector, the relief of guidelines additionally noticed an ‘explosion’ in shady characters making a fortune, treating migrant care employees as ‘money cows’ by making them pay typically enormous charges, the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority stated.
Campaigners known as for the Home Office to urgently introduce extra checks on overseas staff to cease their exploitation and defend these they look after.
The Mail also can reveal:
- Whistleblowers at one agency offering care providers for the NHS described seeing candidates arrive with holdalls filled with money to pay for jobs, which had been handed over to employees in clandestine conferences.
- An company charging £5,000 to assist African and Asian staff get care jobs described the way it deceived the Home Office to assist receive visas to journey to the UK.
- Some abroad employees are handled like ‘slaves’ within the UK however are too scared to complain for worry of shedding their jobs.
It is prohibited for British-based corporations working as employment companies to request, or obtain, a charge from staff for the aim of discovering them jobs within the UK, though corporations can provide different non-work-finding providers and a charge will be charged.
Yet shifty fixers cost abroad employees in return for Home Office-approved Certificates of Sponsorships, which allow them to acquire a Health and Care work visa to safe work for a UK firm.
Campaigners known as for the Home Office to urgently introduce extra checks on overseas staff to cease their exploitation and defend these they look after (pictured: Home Secretary James Cleverly)
Several whistleblowers advised the Mail some employees are illegally charging for jobs at one social care firm with 20 websites in northern England that present supported dwelling for individuals with studying difficulties for NHS and council referrals.
They described seeing migrants arrive with holdalls full of money which had been handed to employees on the firm at conferences in automobile parks or areas in CCTV blackspots. They estimated greater than 100 migrants had been introduced on this means.
But after they arrive they often don’t have any {qualifications} for the required work and sometimes very poor English, placing sufferers’ well being in danger. In many instances the migrants ‘disappear’ and are believed to finish up looking for work illegally on the UK black market.
One migrant described how he paid £6,000 money for a Certificate of Sponsorship at a gathering at one of many firm’s places of work within the north-west of England, however by no means acquired sponsorship.
Nadra Ahmed, chairman of the National Care Association, stated she knew of in depth abuse of the system since visa guidelines had been relaxed. ‘We’re seeing companies sprouting up which can be simply bringing individuals in for the aim of taking cash off them,’ she stated.
‘They’re not checking their abilities or ensuring they’ve the related coaching. In some instances staff are sleeping 14 to a room and having to pay again cash they hadn’t anticipated.
‘We need to cease a observe the place weak individuals are taking care of weak individuals. It’s exploitation with horrible penalties for the social care business and the folks that we, as a society, are purported to be caring for.’
She stated the Home Office wanted to strengthen English language necessities and spend extra time on follow-up visits to properties utilizing overseas care staff.
Martin Plimmer, lead investigator on the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority, stated greater than 100,000 sponsorship visas had been issued within the two years since guidelines had been relaxed. ‘This nation has by no means recruited so many individuals in such a brief area of time in a single business’, he stated.
‘As an authority, we have gone from just about by no means having investigated a case within the care sector to getting a case of suspected exploitation on daily basis. We’re inundated.’ Migrants are routinely being illegally charged £10,000 to £20,000 ‘work finder’ charges, he stated.
It means they typically arrive in debt having offered every part or borrowed from gangs to pay for the job, so can not afford to report mistreatment to UK authorities for worry of being sacked.
Some are pressured to work 80-hour weeks, leaving them exhausted and making it onerous to do their job correctly.
Nadra Ahmed (pictured), chairman of the National Care Association, stated she knew of in depth abuse of the system since visa guidelines had been relaxed. ‘We’re seeing companies sprouting up which can be simply bringing individuals in for the aim of taking cash off them,’ she stated
Former Tory well being minister Neil O’Brien (pictured) stated: ‘This Daily Mail investigation highlights the absurdity of this sponsorship scheme and entire immigration system’
In a ‘vicious circle’, the exploitative employers are additionally higher positioned to bid for profitable social care contracts from native authorities as a result of their low wage payments imply they will undercut rivals who deal with staff correctly, Mr Plimmer added.
‘Some care properties are being run at a really low price with a really excessive earnings. It’s all about making a living, and a few individuals are making substantial quantities of cash,’ he stated.
Former Tory well being minister Neil O’Brien stated: ‘This Daily Mail investigation highlights the absurdity of this sponsorship scheme and entire immigration system.
‘This scheme is just not match for function. This raises large questions for the Home Office and I’m positive they may need to take fast and decisive motion on this.’
A Home Office spokesman stated: ‘We strongly condemn providing Health and Care employee visa holders employment beneath false pretences and don’t tolerate criminal activity within the labour market.
‘We’ve already taken motion to revoke the licence of sponsors engaged in such exercise.
‘We are dedicated to stamping out exploitation of these working within the care sector and have introduced suppliers in England will solely be capable to sponsor migrant staff if they’re endeavor actions regulated by the Care Quality Commission.’
Medical company boasted of deceptive the Home Office to assist migrant staff get visas to journey to the UK
By Tom Kelly and Isaan Khan
His mission, he proclaims, is to determine God’s kingdom on earth. In his impassioned sermons on the packed Pentecost Baptist Church in Liverpool, Dr Rev Philip Oyewale routinely requires his flock to reward and honour their salvation Jesus.
Dressed in a shiny tailor-made swimsuit with a gold watch, he declares ‘Hallelujah, reward the Lord’, prompting worshippers to reply in unison.
But when our undercover reporter arrived to see Mr Oyewale at his church, it was used for a much less non secular function.
Sitting in his sacristy, a college commencement picture behind him, he supplied to cost a Nigerian undercover reporter £9,000 to assist her receive Home Office sponsorship for a job in a UK care house.
Our investigation got here after studying that his firm, Charis Recruits, had been suspended from the Home Office migrant sponsorship scheme in February final yr as a result of it was suspected of ‘supplying sponsored staff as labour’.
His mission, he proclaims, is to determine God’s kingdom on earth. In his impassioned sermons on the packed Pentecost Baptist Church in Liverpool, Dr Rev Philip Oyewale (pictured) routinely requires his flock to reward and honour their salvation Jesus
But when our undercover reporter arrived to see Mr Oyewale at his church (pictured), it was used for a much less non secular function
It was stated to have sponsored 376 migrants from July 2022 to February 2023 in an operation suspected of constructing over £1million.
Despite this, whistleblowers advised the Mail, Mr Oyewale was nonetheless providing to assist migrants get sponsorship.
And when the undercover reporter posing as a abroad scholar in search of full-time work approached the minister, he advised her he might assist her get a Certificate of Sponsorship – required for a piece visa – in simply three days.
He stated that after the fee he would introduce her to somebody who would assist her and promised a ‘100 per cent’ success charge and stated there could be no issues with the Home Office.
‘There’s nothing to fret about. I can guarantee you of that.’ Pointing at himself, he added: ‘That’s the peace of mind I personally can provide you.’
The work could be domiciliary care – supporting a disabled or aged particular person in their very own house – in Newcastle or Middlesbrough, he stated.
The solely query he requested about suitability for the job was if our applicant had a automobile.
He declined to say what the wage could be, merely saying: ‘You will probably be paid. We have greater than sufficient hours. You will work till you say you might be drained.’
He refused to say how many individuals he had beforehand helped. He stated as soon as the £9,000 had been paid, he would ‘introduce’ her to the particular person with the job.
Mr Oyewale, 47, is a registered minister with the Baptist Union which represents Baptist church buildings in England and Wales. He has a number of social media websites with 1000’s of followers the place he posts movies selling church occasions.
Mr Oyewale, 47, is a registered minister with the Baptist Union which represents Baptist church buildings in England and Wales
He has a number of social media websites with 1000’s of followers the place he posts movies selling church occasions
Charis Recruits stated it could examine the Mail’s allegations, however stated as a result of Mr Oyewale had resigned as a director of the corporate three months after its Home Office licence was revoked, he was ‘now not capable of make selections’ for the agency.
The firm declined to reply subsequent questions on why Mr Oyewale’s cell quantity remained on the contacts part of the corporate web site and why the e-mail Charis Recruits despatched to the Mail listed Philip Oyewale as the corporate’s ‘registered supervisor’ on the backside.
Mr Oyewale advised the Mail he solely gave recommendation to those that wanted assist getting sponsorship and by no means benefited financially. The undercover reporter didn’t pay the £9,000 for which he requested.
He added: ‘Any recommendation I gave, even previous to my resignation from Charis Recruits Ltd, was solely supposed to assist them advance and be capable to earn a decent livelihood whereas lawfully remaining within the UK.’
