The Modern Slavery Bill is currently going through the House of Lords. Committee Stage consideration of the Modern Slavery Bill has now finished. Amendment 94 in the names of Baroness Cox, Lord Alton of Liverpool, Baroness Royall of Blaisdon and Lord Hylton which would provide vital protections for Overseas Domestic Workers was debated on the 12 December and received substantial cross party support. We are hopeful that the Government will now consider the effects of tying migrant domestic workers to their employers and how this both facilitates their abuse and undermines the Bill and reinstate the pre 2012 protections for migrant domestic workers in the immigration rules. If not we are confident that a similar amendment will continue to receive strong support at Report Stage early 2015.
Our Story – The Experience of Migrant Domestic Workers
This moving film was made in 2010 by migrant domestic workers advocacy group Kalayaan and Justice 4 Domestic Workers. It was funded by the Workers Education Association (WEA) Tackling Race and Inequalities Fund (TRIF). It was updated in 2014 to reflect the current issue of tied visas for domestic workers.
Britain’s Hidden Slaves: Why the Modern Slavery Bill cannot ignore…
Together with allies at Justice 4 Domestic Workers, Unite, Anti Slavery International and Making HerStory we are holding an event sponsored by Baroness Caroline Cox to discuss the situation of migrant domestic workers in the UK, why they are so vulnerable to abuse and how the Modern Slavery Bill can help. It will take place on Thursday 20 November at 5.15pm in the House of Lords, Committee Room 1.
Please RSVP to info@kalayaan.org.uk. Spaces are limited.
No to Slavery. Justice 4 Domestic Workers Rally for rights
On Sunday 15th June, Justice 4 Domestic workers, together with supporters met in front to Parliament in Westminster to call for the Re-instatement of the Overseas Domestic Worker visa and for the UK to ratify and implement the Domestic Workers’ Convention; IL0 C189, recognising domestic workers as workers.
Report: Draft Modern Slavery Bill is unequivocal about the importance of…
The report found that:
‘In the case of the domestic worker’s visa, policy changes have unintentionally strengthened the hand of the slave master against the victim of slavery. The moral case for revisiting this issue is urgent and overwhelming. Protecting these victims does not require primary legislation and we call on the Government to take immediate action’.
See the full recommendations on Overseas Domestic Workers here
Case Study 2: Escaped But Failed
Mira (names and identifying features have been changed)
‘Mira’ was waiting outside Kalayaan in tears with a small bag containing all her belongings one morning. She had run away from her employers’ house in the early hours and had found her way to Kalayaan using the address slipped to her by another domestic worker working in the same apartment block as her.
Mira grew up in a small village in the Philippines in a large and poor family and had made the hard decision to approach an agent for work overseas to support her family. In return for her first four months salary she was found a job in the middle east and was taken to the UK by these employers when they came to visit a family member working here.
Mira had been working around 16 hours a day with no time off at all. She shared a room with the children and had no private time or space for herself at all. She kept all her belongings in a small space under the washing machine. She ate only leftovers after the family had finished eating and as they often went out to eat in the evening went hungry. She was forbidden from cooking additional food for herself. She was frequently screamed at and was emotional describing her working conditions even many weeks later. While Mira had been paid £100/ month in the middle east, three months into her time in the UK she had received nothing and she was desperately worried about how her family were surviving without her remittances. Mira’s employers had always kept her passport and her ‘trigger’ for running away was her finding that it had been left out and her taking the opportunity to ‘steal’ it back.
In spite of her tearful and scared state Mira was excited when she came to Kalayaan because she had her passport in her hand and she had seen in it a domestic work visa. However, when we looked at her visa we had to advise Mira that it was a ‘new’ overseas domestic worker visa, issued after April 2012, which meant while she was still within its 6 month validity period she was prohibited from changing employer and it was not renewable beyond this time. Therefore there was no option within the immigration rules for her to remain in the UK.
Mira was desperate, telling us that there was no way she could return to the Philippines without earning some money. She explained that were she to return she would be in a worse situation than ever and would have no option other than to indebt herself to any agent who would again send her overseas to work.
Kalayaan found Mira legal immigration advice and have referred her into the NRM, at best she will receive a 45 day reflection period. We have found her temporary accommodation and her lawyer is looking at arguments which can be made for her to remain. In the meantime she is dependent on the charity of others. In similar cases to Mira’s the workers have disappeared, being driven underground and criminalised by their immigration status.
Statistics
Between, April 2011 and March 2014, the following abuse statistics were reported by 120 migrant domestic workers on the tied or diplomatic visa who registered at Kalayaan:
- No day off: 79%
- Had passport confiscated: 78%
- Not allowed out of the house unsupervised: 71%
- Psychological abuse: 65%
- Did not have a room of their own, or any personal space: 65%
CAMPAIGN ISSUE
Migrant domestic workers in the UK (known as Overseas Domestic Workers, ODWs by the UK Border Agency) have long been recognised as being especially vulnerable to exploitation including trafficking. In 1998, in recognition of this vulnerability, the then UK Government introduced the ODW visa which offered some protection to migrant domestic workers.
The visa recognised their status as workers with access to protections under UK employment law, the right to apply to renew their visa if in full time employment as a domestic worker in a private household and, importantly the right to change employer.
On the 6th April 2012, the current Government made significant changes to the ODW visa, effectively withdrawing all rights and protections from migrant domestic workers in the UK and marking a significant departure from the important safeguards provided by the visa.
The sole motive for the new visa appears to be the Government’s aim to reduce migration to the UK from outside the EU. Migrant domestic workers who are allowed to apply to renew their visa do not fit well with the current immigration policy. However the Government is also not keen to dissuade wealthy employers visiting the UK from coming by preventing them from bringing their domestic staff.
The result is the current visa which allows the employer to bring a worker who in practise has no way to challenge abuse. In this way the new migrant domestic worker visa actually facilitates trafficking.
Case Study 3: Domestic Servitude
KALAYAAN case id: 3294
Susi (name and identifying details have been changed) came to the UK from Qatar where she had worked for a little over a year.
Susi had migrated to Qatar because she had no other way to feed her family. She has described how as a single mother it was very hard for her to get work to support her two children and ‘there were many days on which we did not eat’. She is clear that it is up to her to support her two children and she is determined that she will do her best to provide a better future for them than her life. She frequently describes ‘sacrificing’ herself in order to do this.
In Qatar she was employed as a cleaner and a nanny. She worked every day of the week. – every 2 months she would get one day off- from 9am to 5pm. Her hours of work were generally 6am – 11pm or 1am. She had no rest breaks and earned equivalent to £240 a month. She says apart from what she kept so she could call her children she sent her entire salary home, and it was still never enough. She was able to call her children twice a month. She paid for the calls.
After almost a year the employers took her to have her picture taken and to sign some forms. She understood that she was travelling to the UK with her employers. She had no say in this matter and no one asked her if she wanted to go. Susi explained that she didn’t know anything about the visa type on which she entered the UK. Her employer travelled with her to the UK and held her passport all the way, including through immigration control. Once in the UK the employer kept her passport with them in their room.
In London there were two other workers in the house, Susi shared a room which she describes as ‘like a storeroom’ with these other two workers. She was told she was not allowed any calls and had no time off at all in the UK. She was not allowed out, even to go into the garden. The door was locked. If she needed anything from shops outside she had to ask her employer to buy it for her.
After a few months Susi found her passport when she was cleaning. She had also discovered where a spare key to the house was kept. Finding her passport gave her the courage to escape. By the time to Kalayaan she had one ‘friend’ who she described as ‘helping’ her for whom she cleaned and looked after her kids in return for accommodation and the odd £5 or £10. She had no idea how long this arrangement would last for and where she would stay when it ended.
Susi consented to a referral into the Government’s National Referral Mechanism for victims of trafficking (NRM). She received a positive decision as trafficked at both the Reasonable Grounds and Conclusive Grounds Stages. However with her positive Conclusive Grounds decision confirming she was trafficked to the UK she was also told to make arrangements to leave the UK. She is clearly still vulnerable. She maintains that if she returns to the Philippines her children ‘won’t eat’ and that she is prepared to ‘do anything’ to provide for them. It seems clear that her lack of choices will result in her being exploited again or even retrafficked. The UK has identified her as trafficked and then left her to be exploited again.
Had Susi entered the UK a few months earlier, before the tied ODW visa was introduced in 2012, she would have been able to change employers allowing her to work legally as a domestic worker, she would be able to send money home to her children, and visit them for holidays. Renewing her visa every year would allow the authorities to scrutinise her working conditions. She would be rebuilding KALAYAAN case id: 3294
her life and recovering from the traumatic exploitation she experienced while working towards her dream of a better future for her children.
Case Study 4: No Justice
Kalayaan client ID 3465
Case Study ‘Rupa’ (name and identifying details have been changed)
Rupa arrived at Kalayaan scared and destitute. She had escaped the smart central London holiday apartments where she was staying with her employers the previous day and had spent the night with someone she had met and begged for help. They had brought her to Kalayaan.
Rupa and her employers are Indian and she explained that she had worked for her employers for over 4 years in India. They had told her they were bringing her to the UK while they were here on holiday as they needed her to look after their baby. Rupa explained that she had little choice but to work for these employers in spite of what she knew were poor conditions as her husband is sick and cannot work to support their family.
Rupa had no say in the decision to come to the UK, nor did anyone at the British High Commission in India speak to her during the visa application process for which she was accompanied by her employer or explain anything about UK employment law.
Rupa explained that her passport was taken from her by her employers as they boarded the plane to India and she has never seen it since.
Once in the UK Rupa explained that she was on call all the time as she had sole charge for the baby, who regularly got her up during the night. She slept on the floor next to the baby’s cot and never had any breaks or time off. She didn’t have a key to the property and never went out except with her employers. She ran away because she was exhausted, was paid £26 a week, and she was regularly shouted at by the baby’s mother.
When Rupa came to Kalayaan she had no money, no belongings apart from the clothes she was wearing, knew no one and did not have her passport or know what her immigration status was. She was tearful and suffering from years of being shouted at. She told us she needed to find another job in order to send money to her family.
We had to explain to Rupa that she was almost certainly on the tied ODW visa, which prohibited her from working for anyone other than the employer with who she entered the UK. When she asked us to support her getting her passport back we had to explain that involving the police would almost certainly result in her being detained and her passport confiscated until she left the UK. We explained that there were indicators of Rupa having been trafficked for domestic servitude and with her consent we could refer her into the Government’s identification system for victims of trafficking. However Rupa didn’t see how this was in her interest; she needed to work and to earn money.
Rupa spent the day at Kalayaan, crying and talking through her miserable options. At the end of the day she decided to go back to her employers. She needed to work. Even if in conditions of servitude for pittance.
Had Rupa come to Kalayaan before April 2012, when migrant domestic workers had the right to change employer we could have worked with the police to secure the return of her passport, supported her to challenge her employers for unpaid wages and helped her to find a good job. She wouldn’t have had recourse to public funds or been able to renew her visa without employment but she would have had a chance at justice. Kalayaan client ID 3465
Statistics
Between, April 2012 and April 2014, the following abuse statistics were reported by 120 migrant domestic workers who are tied to their employers and who registered at Kalayaan:
No day off: 79%
Had passport confiscated: 78%
Not allowed out of the house unsupervised: 71%
Psychological abuse (eg. being regularly shouted at and humiliated): 65%
Did not have a room of their own, or any personal space: 65%
Paid less than £50 a week: 60%
CAMPAIGN ISSUE
Migrant domestic workers in the UK (known as Overseas Domestic Workers, ODWs by the UK Border Agency) have long been recognised as being especially vulnerable to exploitation including trafficking because they are so dependent on the employers with who they live and work. In 1998, in recognition of this vulnerability, the then UK Government introduced the ODW visa which offered some protection to migrant domestic workers. This was in place until April 2012.
The visa recognised their status as workers with access to protections under UK employment law, the right to apply to renew their visa if in full time employment as a domestic worker in a private household and, importantly the right to change employer.
On the 6th April 2012, the current Government made significant changes to the ODW visa, effectively withdrawing all rights and protections from migrant domestic workers in the UK and marking a significant departure from the important safeguards provided by the visa.
The motive for the new visa appears to be the Government’s aim to reduce migration to the UK from outside the EU. Migrant domestic workers who are allowed to apply to renew their visa do not fit well with the current immigration policy. However the Government is also not keen to dissuade wealthy employers visiting the UK from coming by preventing them from bringing their domestic staff.
The result is the current visa which allows the employer to bring a worker who in practise has no way to challenge abuse. In this way the new migrant domestic worker visa actually facilitates trafficking.
CAMPAIGN ACTION
Please write to your MP asking them to raise your concerns around the new migrant domestic worker visa and its implications for this vulnerable group of workers. Kalayaan would be grateful to see a copy of any responses you receive.
Kalayaan is a very small organisation and most of our time is spent giving direct advice, support and assistance to migrant domestic workers . If you need more information go to www.kalayaan.org.uk
Case Study 5: Rights, Justice and Rebuilding Lives
Sara- original ODW visa case study
Sara, an Indian national, was bought to the UK from Kuwait on a Domestic Worker visa. Living in London, Sara was treated appallingly by her employers. She was not allowed to contact her family, was often locked in the house, was not allowed out to go to church and was expected to be constantly on call, looking after a small baby 24 hours a day. With no contacts in the UK, no money and her passport having been taken by her employers, Sara did not have anyone to turn to for help. Sara’s parents were dependent upon her, and whilst working in Kuwait Sara had been able to send money back to them every month. However, for the 5 months that she had been working in the UK Sarala had received no payment.
A neighbour became aware of Sara and noticed that she seemed distressed whenever he saw her. He had also heard rumours of her treatment and was concerned that she was not being paid and was being treated badly. Having contacted Kalayaan, a charity that provides advice and support to migrant domestic workers in the UK, the neighbour managed to speak with Sara and get basic information from her which could be used to determine what her options might be.
As Sara was on the old (pre April 2012) Domestic Worker visa she was entitled to change employers so long as she only worked as a Domestic Worker in a private household. However her visa was soon to expire and if she was to be able to renew her visa it was vital that she was in full time employment. This information was given to Sara through her neighbour; consequently she made the decision to leave her employer and to try and find a new job. Her only problem was that she was in constant sole care of a baby and was not able to leave the baby on its own. When there was someone else in the house with the baby Sarala was unlikely to be allowed out. Consequently it was very difficult for her to actually leave her employers. However, Sara grabbed her chance when her employer allowed her out to buy some groceries. She caught a taxi which she paid for with some money given to her by her neighbour and went straight to Kalayaan.
Sara had a contact who would provide her with somewhere to stay whilst she looked for another job and was taken by a Kalayaan volunteer to her flat. Her main priority was to find another job as she would need one in order to renew her visa. With one week before her visa was due to expire, and after a few false starts, Sara managed to secure a job and was able to apply for a new visa. She is currently working in the UK as a nanny for a family. Her work allows her employers to go to work knowing their child is well cared for and Sara pays her taxes and sends money home to support her family.
Two years of the tied visa. Time to reinstate rights
The 6 April 2014 marked two years since the migrant domestic workers, entering the UK on the Overseas Domestic Worker visa, became tied to their employers. Since this time Kalayaan has registered 402 new workers. 120 of these were tied to their employers as they entered on either the tied ODW visa or on the diplomatic domestic worker visa.
A comparison of the reports of abuse made to Kalayaan by workers who are tied to their employers and those who are not (who entered prior to 2012 yet registered at Kalayaan since this time) demonstrate clearly that, while all migrant domestic workers remain vulnerable to abuse, those who are tied to their employers have worse conditions and less freedom:
- Tied workers are twice as likely to report having being physically abused as those who were not tied (16% and 8%)
- 65% of those on the tied visa didn’t have their own rooms, so had no privacy, often sleeping in the kitchen or lounge or sharing with the children, compared to 34% of those not tied
- 78% of tied workers had their passport kept from them, compared with 48% of those not tied
- Kalayaan staff assessed more than double (69%) of those tied as trafficked, in contrast with 26% of those who were not tied.
You can read our briefing ‘Still enslaved: The migrant domestic workers who are trapped by the immigration rules’.