Government Basic information has failed to collect such as people leave the UK after them Visa The chairman of a cross-party committee of MPs said how much can be finished to work illegally.
Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which checks the price for money for government projects, said House office Skilled worker failed to analyze the investigation of exit after being introduced by visa route Toris In 2020.
Some 1.18 million people applied to visit the UK on this route – designed to attract skilled workers in view of Brexit – between its launch in December of that year and the end of 2024.
About 630,000 of them were dependent on the main visa applicant.
But the PAC said that when people are over their visas, there is a lack of knowledge about the people and the expansion of the route in 2022 to attract employees for the struggling social care sector caused the exploitation of some migrant workers.
Its report states that “there were widespread evidence of workers suffering from debt bonding, working under excessive hours and exploiting conditions”, but said “there is no reliable data on the border of abuses”.
It was noted that the fact that a person’s right to remain in the UK is dependent on its employer under sponsorship model, which means migrants are “sensitive to exploitation”.
While the problems began under the previous orthodox government, the revelation will come as a major headache for Yateve Cooper, trying to convince voters that it can hold an illegal migration.
A few days after the new data, it has been found that in the first six months of this year, the channel has crossed the channel in small boats. Kir StamorPledge to “smash” smuggled gangs.
Provisional home office data has shown that a total of 19,982 people have come to the UK since the beginning of 2025 – the first time data was collected since the highest total data for the halfway of the year. Migrant crossing In 2018.
Meanwhile, the data published earlier this year suggested that thousands of care activists have come to UK under sponsors in recent years, whose licenses were later canceled, suggesting the scale of exploitation in the system.
The home office said that more than 470 sponsorship licenses in the care sector were canceled between July 2022 and December 2024 in a crack on misconduct and exploitation.
The department said that from October 2020, more than 39,000 workers were associated with those sponsors.
In its report published on Friday, the PAC said: “The cross-government response to deal with exploitation of migrant workers has been inadequate and within it, the reaction of the house office has slow and ineffective.”
It also saw lack of information about those people. When their visa ends with people, the Home Office said that it can tell if people are still in the country, they have to match their own data with airline passenger information.
The report states: “The Home Office has not analyzed the investigation into the exit after the route is introduced and does not know what proportion people return to their country after their visa is over, and how many United Kingdom are working illegally in their country.”
Committee Chairman Sir Geoffrey Clift-Brown said that the former Tori government had moved fast to open visa system to help facing social care systems during epidemic “, the speed and volume of applications” the speed and volume “to protect the workers from the underprivileged, and did not follow the rules.
He said: “There is a growing evidence of serious issues with the system for a long time, our investigation has once again been kept naked.
“And yet basic information, such as how many people suffer modern slavery on skilled worker visas, and whether people leave the UK after their visa ends, seems to have not been gathered by the government.”
Earlier this week, the law was introduced in Parliament as a part of immigration reforms to eliminate the recruitment of care workers from abroad.
The move has led to concerns from the adult social care sector, the GMB Union has described the decision as “potentially disastrous” due to dependence on migrant workers with some 130,000 vacancies across England.
The home office believes that there are 40,000 potential members of employees who originally brought by “evil” providers who could work in the field while UK employees are trained.
Sir Geoffree warned that until the effective cross-government is working, there is a risk that these changes will increase the challenges for the care sector “.
He said that the government should “develop a deep understanding of the role that plays in the immigration sector workforce strategies, as well as helping to address the lack of skills from domestic workforce plans”, warning that it is no longer an excuse for global crisis, which operates the system on the fly, and without care, “.
Edes Sehik, Policy Manager of Charity the Work Rights Center, said the report said that “unevenly shows that sponsorship system is making migrant workers unsafe for exploitation as it connects workers to employers” and that the home office “rely on the goodwill of the sponsors to sponsor the Immigration Rules”.
He said: “This report is still more harmful evidence that the principle of sponsorship, which connects migrant workers in the UK to their employer, is naturally insecure for workers and, in our view, violates their human rights.”
Amidst its recommendations, the PAC stated that the home office should work with the relevant government bodies, “Establish a agreeable reaction to deal with the risks and results of exploitation” and identify what data requires, “Understand how to understand what happens to people at the end of their visa and the effectiveness of checks on sponsor organizations”.
Home office has been contacted for comment.
