Social care nurses are being 'exploited', new report warns
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has warned that migrant nurses and care workers are being subjected to "inhumane treatment".
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has warned that migrant nurses and care workers coming to the UK are being subjected to exploitation.
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The college said some overseas workers in the social care sector have been underpaid, while others have faced demands to repay “huge” sums of money, with their visa status allegedly being used as leverage.
It also said some workers have seen their pay and employment conditions changed after arriving in the UK.
The RCN said it had seen a rise in migrant workers seeking support “due to exploitative practices”.
These reportedly include excessive working hours, high exit fees, overcrowded accommodation and illegal charges for finding work.
A new report from the college warns that “the inhumane treatment of staff who have come to support the UK’s social care system poses a serious risk to the sector’s stability”.
This report comes shortly after the Prime Minister pledged to “put everything I’ve got” into tackling the adult social care crisis.
Burnham said previous governments had considered the issue too “risky, too difficult and too complicated” to tackle, as he called for cross-party agreement to reform the system.
The RCN examined the experiences of 383 staff who sought support from the organisation between 2023 and 2025.
Details of cases where employers allegedly used repayment clauses to recover costs from workers who wanted to leave before their contracts ended were also included in the report, with one worker reportedly being asked to repay £25,000.
The RCN said adult social care is “deeply reliant” on migrant health and care workers, who account for around 30% of jobs in the sector held by people who are not British nationals.
RCN chief executive and general secretary Professor Nicola Ranger said: “Just a week after the Prime Minister laid out his plans for social care in England, this report exposes the scale of grotesque exploitation taking place in the sector.
“A National Care Service meeting the needs of an ageing population, with complex conditions, will need to be registered nurse led. We’re the ones with the skill and expertise to make it work, but that cannot happen while so many of our migrant colleagues are being exploited.”
A Government spokesperson said: “This Government stands firm on our zero-tolerance approach to labour exploitation and abuse of our immigration system by unscrupulous employers.
“We are taking action against rogue care providers who have used their sponsor licence to exploit workers, and we’ve ended overseas recruitment for care workers after unacceptable levels of abuse and exploitation.”