'We lost thousands in care home scam but reclaimed our power in unexpected way'

After finishing her studies in the UK, June landed a full-time job with a care work company. After completing an interview and training, and paying a £4,500 administration fee, she was ready to start work.

"I never got a single shift," says the 51-year-old, who lives in Huddersfield with her husband and son. "They kept saying, 'next week, next week', but nothing happened. Then the woman stopped taking my calls. "It was a racket."

Scammed by her employer, June only found out they had ended her employment when the Home Office contacted her to say she had 60 days to find a new sponsor or go home to Nigeria. She now works nights in a care home where she says she daren’t complain in case she loses a sponsoring company again. We have changed her name. "The work is so hard," she says. "8.45pm to 8am with no break. I make food, but I bring it home again – I don’t get time to eat it. The only person who speaks to me, or ever says thank you, is the clocking-in machine."

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That was before June joined a local choir – Barnsley Caring Voices – which brings migrant care workers together in song and solidarity. Tonight, the choir are performing in the magnificent Huddersfield Town Hall, opening Unison’s Kirklees branch AGM under a banner that reads: 'When words fail, music speaks'.

Set up by Unison in July 2024, the choir doesn’t just sing together – it brings together workers being exploited by unscrupulous employers. For June, it’s a moment to let go of the fear and exhaustion, and to be herself.

"I get bad anxiety about work, I can’t sleep," she says. "Even the residents ask if I’m okay because they see you’re not taking a break, you're not having leave. But you are at the mercy of your employer. Whatever they do you just have to keep on working, keep quiet."

Tens of thousands of migrant care workers have been recruited from all over the via the Health and Care Worker Visa Scheme introduced in 2020 by ’s government. Far from taking from the UK economy, a shocking investigation by Unison – Caring at a Cost – found migrant care staff having to share beds, sleep rough and charged thousands in illegal fees. Some had paid more than £20,000 to intermediaries before they even arrived.

Unison says exploiting these workers is easy for rogue employers because they are dependent on bosses for their visa. Many were housed in overcrowded, substandard accommodation and subjected to appalling racist abuse, according to the research. And some reported racial assault.

Another member of the Barnsley Caring Voices choir, Natasha, 29, was left suicidal after exploitation by two different employers. She left her home in Nigeria in 2023, after paying £5,500 to one employer.

"I still had to pay for my visa and for two months' accommodation in advance," she says. "I was being sent to places 60 miles away. We didn’t get paid for travel or fuel, people would sleep in their cars."

She then paid £2,000 to start at a new employer. "They’d make you work even on your day off. Sometimes you'd work 6.30am to 10pm because of the travelling. It put me in a lot of depression.

"I was getting comfort from the people I care for – the people I am supposed to comfort. They would call my employer to say they were worried about my health, but the bosses told me I wasn’t allowed to talk to clients about it anymore. If you complain they’d say, ‘remember you’re on sponsorship’, they put fear in you.

"The black people were treated differently to the white people. I was suicidal, if it wasn’t for my family I don’t know if I would still be here."

With the help of Unison, Natasha managed to get a secure job working directly for a local council. "All I wanted was to do my job in peace," she says. “I have that security now."

Ava, a maths teacher also from Nigeria, came here on a Health and Care Work Visa in 2023. She is still paying back the £3,000 admin fee to a relative. "Sometimes you work ten days at a stretch, 6am to 10pm, and you aren't being paid for travel time or costs," she says. "I'd have hours cancelled, but still have to pay childcare. I was earning peanuts."

When she complained, she says the employer made her redundant. "Look what happens when you try and speak up," she says.

Michelle, 42, works in Doncaster and is originally from Zimbabwe. She came to the UK in January 2023 and paid for her own visa, plus a £2k 'admin fee' to her employer. "You think, 'I can advance myself," she says. But she wasn’t given enough hours or asked to work long hours without breaks. "If I complained, the boss would come to the house and shout. Sometimes you feel like a slave."

When Michelle’s teenage daughter fell critically ill in summer 2023, her bosses questioned whether she was really at her bedside and accused of her working at the hospital. Doctors treating her daughter were so incensed they offered to speak to her bosses on Michelle’s behalf.

But the employer terminated her contract – leaving her with no job or visa. She has managed to find another job but lives in fear of being sacked again. “When you suffer and they abuse you just stay quiet," she says. "It’s the power of the visas."

The government says it has cracked down on rogue employers since coming to power, including revoking hundreds of licences in the care sector. The scale is staggering, affecting 39,000 workers. The Department for Health and Social Care also changed the law so care companies must prioritise workers already here who need new sponsorship when recruiting.

Stephen Kinnock MP, Minister of State for Care, says: "International care workers play a vital role in our social care workforce. We value their contribution and work supporting vulnerable people across the country every day.

"As we crack down on shameful rogue operators exploiting overseas workers here in the UK, we must do all we can to get the victims back into rewarding careers in adult social care."

Unison is calling for the government to take over sponsorship of migrant care staff from employers. Meanwhile, Barnsley Caring Voices provides a safe space not just for care workers – but for workers who care for each other.

Michelle says it’s a lifeline. "When I go to choir," she says. "I can be myself."