Stop migrant workers being exploited for our food.

Migrant seasonal workers are essential to UK agriculture, helping plant, harvest and package the food we all rely on.

The industry depends on them so heavily that, in the words of one grower, “If we didn’t have seasonal workers coming into the country every year, we wouldn’t have any crops”.

Yet these workers are forced to pay thousands of pounds for recruitment, travel and visas – money they often have to borrow. Unscrupulous gangs lend thousands to workers to ‘help’ them cover the costs of recruitment. Paying up front puts them in debt and leaves them vulnerable to trafficking, debt bondage and forced labour.

The current ‘Seasonal Worker Visa’ scheme puts workers at risk of exploitation and abuse. Workers bear the burden, while employers and recruiters profit.

The Government can stop this. By mandating that employers pay recruitment costs, workers can be protected from abuse and remove the incentives for exploitation.

Because nobody should pay to work.