March 1, 2015

Write to your MP asking them to keep protections for migrant domestic workers in the Modern Slavery Bill

Please write to your MP asking them to support the continued inclusion of protections for migrant domestic workers in the Modern Slavery Bill.

Wednesday 25th February was a historic win for migrant domestic workers in the UK when Peers in the House of Lords voted to include important protections against slavery for migrant domestic workers in the Modern Slavery Bill. It is important that these protections remain in the Bill and are not removed if there is a vote on this matter in the House of Commons.

There is not much time. If the Government proposes any amendment to take out these protections this would be likely to be debated during the week of the 9th March.

If you don’t know who your MP is, you can find out here

Feel welcome to use the template letter below. You letter will of course be more powerful if you also use some of your own words. Please make sure you include your full address in the letter so your MP knows that you are one of their constituents:

NAME MP
House of Commons
London
SW1A 0AA

Dear NAME MP

I am writing to ask if you, my MP, will support the continued inclusion of an important clause to protect migrant domestic workers from slavery in the Modern Slavery Bill.

On the 25th February Peers in the House of Lords voted to include an important amendment, which (i) allows migrant domestic workers in the UK to change employer, (ii) if in employment as a domestic workers to apply to renew their visa, and (iii) to grant those found to have been a victim of slavery a temporary three month visa to give them a chance to find a decent job and begin to rebuild their lives.

Until the Peers voted to include these important protections the Bill did nothing to address the fact that since April 2012 migrant domestic workers have been tied by the immigration rules to the named employer with who they entered the UK on a 6 month, non renewable visa. This means that those who are mistreated or abused have to either endure this treatment, or escape and in doing so breach the terms of their visa.

Reports by migrant domestic workers who approach Kalayaan, a small charity in London, for support show that, as well as stripping workers of options once they escape, the treatment of workers has also worsened with the removal of the basic right of being able to leave their job without breaking the law. Workers on the tied visa are more likely to have been physically abused, never allowed out of their employers’ house, to sleep in the lounge or kitchen and to work more than 16 hours a day.

Between April 2012 and 2014 Kalayaan staff internally assessed more than double (69%) of those who were tied by their visa to their employer as trafficked in contrast with 26% of those who had not been tied.

Migrant domestic workers have long been recognised as particularly vulnerable to abuse because of their dependence on one employer for their work, their visa, most information about the UK and their accommodation. The tied visa tipped this inbalance in power further still, with most workers having their employer’s name written on their visa and being unable to resign from their job lawfully, no matter what their employer did to them.

The Joint Committee on the Draft Modern Slavery Bill found that ‘In the case of the domestic worker’ visa, policy changes have unintentionally strengthened the hand of the slave master against the victim of slavery’. The Committee called on the Government to take immediate action. The Peers have now ensured that the necessary protections to reverse these policy changes are in the Bill and that if the Bill passes as is domestic workers will be able to escape abuse without fearing that they are breaking the law. I very much hope that as my MP you will support the continued inclusion of the amendment in the Bill if there is a vote on the matter.

Yours sincerely,

YOUR NAME