The UK’s care sector is facing a workforce crisis. Low pay, poor working conditions and job insecurity has resulted in more than 100,000 unfilled roles – a number that far outstrips many other industries. Rising demand and an ageing population means the situation is likely to become even more dire, with more than 400,000 extra jobs needed over the next decade or so. As a result, the industry is increasingly reliant on overseas workers to staff care homes and help provide other vital services.

Now, a major new TBIJ investigation has revealed that numerous migrant care workers have come to the UK only to find themselves exploited and silenced…

Yet migrant workers remain essential to the sector – as they have been for decades…

Overseas workers plug vital labour gaps across almost every healthcare profession, while one in four care workers and home carers was born outside of the UK, according to the Office for National Statistics. These carers are most likely to be from Africa, Asia and the Middle East…

Many feel powerless against employers whose threats to revoke their visa or withhold their pay puts their livelihood at risk. For those who have racked up debts and left family behind to come to the UK, returning home is not always an option…