There are many critical human rights issues of Bangladeshi healthcare workers who went to the United Kingdom (UK) under the Health and Care (HC) worker visa scheme. Despite the demands of Bangladeshi healthcare workers in the UK, various reports and discussions reveal that Bangladeshi healthcare workers are facing numerous human rights violations by health and care companies there. The violations include but are not limited to forced payment of higher recruitment fees and worse conditions for lower pay, which is in breach of international fair recruitment policies, restrictions on the freedom of movement, excessive workload, threats and intimidation from management, and systematic wage theft.

In February 2022, following Brexit, the UK government introduced the new HC worker visa scheme. The HC visa responded to an acute shortage of care workers precipitated by the decline in migration of EU nationals after the United Kingdom left the European Union in January 2020. Although the exact number of Bangladeshi migrants in the UK care industry is not readily available, in 2023, the UK hired 4,107 skilled workers across diverse sectors from Bangladesh as per the statistics of the Bureau of Manpower, Employment, and Training (BMET). In the current year, 3077 Bangladeshi migrants went to the UK as of August 2024 (BMET). A good number of them are working in caregiving and domestic assistance.

Local authorities in the UK nowadays are increasingly distanced from the care workers, especially the Bangladeshi migrants, due to adopting the outsourcing policy and contractual arrangements through labour suppliers instead of government agencies. Note that in the UK, care workers are tied to a sponsoring employer for their visa status. As a result, the care workers are less likely to air their grievances against the employers.

However, concerns remain about the potential for abuse and labour exploitation in the system, necessitating the strengthening of rules about appropriate sponsors and demonstrating the significant power inequalities underpinning the HC visa scheme. Among various reasons, the UK's recent health policy changes resulting in privatisation of the care sector have led the Bangladeshi workers to face adverse conditions. It has been observed that local authorities in the UK nowadays are increasingly distanced from the care workers, especially the Bangladeshi migrants, due to adopting the outsourcing policy and contractual arrangements through labour suppliers instead of government agencies. Note that in the UK, care workers are tied to a sponsoring employer for their visa status. As a result, the care workers are less likely to air their grievances against the employers. There are also allegations that some UK care companies recruit almost double the figure of workers than what is approved. They do so with the help of some Bangladeshi recruiting agencies, agents and sub-agents. As a result, almost half of the Bangladeshi health and care workers in the UK are actually forced to work illegally, although they migrate legally. Naturally, a lower payment is given to them, which is an insufficient livelihood in the UK as per the country's living standard.

In the given context, a set of actions can be recommended for the relevant actors, including the UK and Bangladesh governments, the health and care companies in the UK and the recruiting agencies, agents and sub-agents in Bangladesh. They must work in concert to identify, prevent, mitigate, and account for rights violations against the Bangladeshi healthcare workers in the UK. Indeed, the UK's care policy must be revisited, and necessary changes must be introduced so that it can ensure the full human rights protection of all health and care workers, including the Bangladeshi migrants working in the field. Also, the relevant monitoring agencies of the UK Government over their health and care companies must work more effectively and efficiently in line with international standards. Necessary actions should be taken by the UK Government in order to prevent the misuse of the repayment clauses. Notably, the repayment clause is a common feature of employment contracts issued by health and care companies in the UK, where workers are charged an inflated cost if they chose to leave employment. Some Bangladeshi healthcare workers in the UK reported that this cost is sometimes too high, which goes up to 20,000 GBP.

Bangladesh Government can take initiatives through BMET to offer formal education and training to the aspirant health and care workers in the UK so that no questions are raised about their qualifications once they are in the UK. Different NGOs, consultancy firms and training centres can assist in this matter. Securing the emigration cards from BMET by the recruiting agencies must be strictly regulated and monitored so that the exact number of emigration cards can be traced and secured against a particular number of job openings in the UK. This action will significantly minimise the potential scope of human rights violations. The health and care worker migration between Bangladesh and the UK could be a win-win situation if the above-mentioned actions could be adopted by the relevant actors in the UK and Bangladesh.

The writer is senior research Associate, China–South Asia Center for Sociocultural Studies, North South University.