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Focus on Labour Exploitation @focusonlabour.bsky.social · 2d

These findings are discussed in our report, "Uneven Fields: women workers’ experiences of the Seasonal Worker Scheme".

Read the report here: labourexploitation.org/publications...

Uneven fields: women workers’ experiences of the Seasonal Worker Scheme – FLEX

For years, Focus on Labour Exploitation and other organisations have raised the alarm about the Seasonal Worker Scheme, and the ways in which its design facilitates exploitation.…

labourexploitation.org

Focus on Labour Exploitation @focusonlabour.bsky.social · 2d

When women on the Seasonal Worker Scheme were asked if they had ever been paid lower than promised, 27% said yes. 16% of men said the same.

That isn't just a blip. The government must address the ways that women on the scheme are pushed to the margins of an already-precarious workforce.

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Reposted by Focus on Labour Exploitation

Focus on Labour Exploitation @focusonlabour.bsky.social · 8d

📢 Vacancy closing soon! We are recruiting a Director of Operations at FLEX

If you’re passionate about building strong teams and systems that drive social justice, have a look 👇

Deadline: Monday 6 October 2025 (midday).

Focus on Labour Exploitation @focusonlabour.bsky.social · Sep 8

OPPORTUNITY:

We are recruiting a Director of Operations, to lead the development and smooth running of the systems, processes, and culture that enables FLEX to deliver its mission effectively.

For more details on the role and how to apply, go to: labourexploitation.org/about-us/opp...

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Focus on Labour Exploitation @focusonlabour.bsky.social · 8d

📢 Vacancy closing soon! We are recruiting a Director of Operations at FLEX

If you’re passionate about building strong teams and systems that drive social justice, have a look 👇

Deadline: Monday 6 October 2025 (midday).

Focus on Labour Exploitation @focusonlabour.bsky.social · Sep 8

OPPORTUNITY:

We are recruiting a Director of Operations, to lead the development and smooth running of the systems, processes, and culture that enables FLEX to deliver its mission effectively.

For more details on the role and how to apply, go to: labourexploitation.org/about-us/opp...

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Focus on Labour Exploitation @focusonlabour.bsky.social · 10d

Compelling workers to volunteer isn't volunteering; its exploitation.

The Home Secretary's new demands on migrant workers' right to indefinite leave to remain will increase the risk of exploitation of workers.

www.ein.org.uk/news/home-se...

Home Secretary confirms major changes to indefinite leave to remain coming “soon”

Shabana Mahmood outlines plans to introduce new contribution-based tests, meaning ILR will not be automatically granted based on residence

www.ein.org.uk

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Focus on Labour Exploitation @focusonlabour.bsky.social · 12d

This country is hurtling along a dangerous path. The government has a choice: accelerate further down, or divert to something new.

FLEX was one of 100 charities urging the Home Secretary to tackle the systemic causes of exploitation and alienation, rather than blaming migrants.

The Guardian @theguardian.com · 12d

Stop blaming migrants and tackle UK’s real problems, 100 charities tell home secretary

A letter warns Shabana Mahmood that ‘targeting refugees will do nothing to tackle’ problems with housing and the NHS More than 100 charities have sent a letter to the home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, calling for an end to the “scapegoating of migrants”. The letter, sent before her speech at the Labour party conference in Liverpool on Monday afternoon, was coordinated by Refugee Action and signed by 105 organisations from a wide range of sectors – including Save the Children, Mind, Oxfam, Shelter, Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth, as well as dozens of migrant and anti-racism charities. It has also been signed by the PCS union, which represents Border Force workers. Continue reading...

www.theguardian.com

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Focus on Labour Exploitation @focusonlabour.bsky.social · 19d

Civil society and public bodies must work together to build fairer systems.

FLEX is proud to be part of the Citizenship & Integration Initiative with @trustforlondon.bsky.social and @london.gov.uk, ensuring policy and practice better reflect Londoners' needs.

trustforlondon.org.uk/news/why-the...

Why the secondment model works - lessons from the Citizenship & Integration Initiative

We tackle poverty and inequality in London

trustforlondon.org.uk

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Focus on Labour Exploitation @focusonlabour.bsky.social · 25d

FLEX has been proud to offer training to local frontline organisations whose service users face heightened risk of exploitation.

We asked two organisations trained in 2024 and 2025 to share their experience with FLEX’s workshops.

Read their thoughts here: labourexploitation.org/news/flex-tr...

FLEX Training Programme: What do trainees think? – FLEX

FLEX has been proud to offer training on understanding labour exploitation throughout our 10+ years of operation. Since 2020, with funding from City Bridge Foundation, London’s biggest…

labourexploitation.org

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Focus on Labour Exploitation @focusonlabour.bsky.social · Sep 11

FLEX delivered training to Voice of Domestic Workers this weekend, as part of its training programme.

Want to hear more about our training and what attendees thought? Read here: labourexploitation.org/news/flex-tr...

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Focus on Labour Exploitation @focusonlabour.bsky.social · Sep 9

Thank you to Lord Watson, @nataliegreenpeer.bsky.social and other Peers for your words and for backing this vital amendment.

To learn more about this issue, read FLEX's briefing: labourexploitation.org/publications...

Focus on Labour Exploitation @focusonlabour.bsky.social · Sep 9

As a reminder, @nataliegreenpeer.bsky.social talks through the state of rights of workers in the fishing sector.

For those non-EU migrant workers on the Code 7 Stamp, they are left unable to access support for any of this, from reporting workplace abuse to even getting medical attention.

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Focus on Labour Exploitation @focusonlabour.bsky.social · Sep 9

As the Lords debate the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill, Lord Watson proposed a vital amendment to make migrant fishers safer.

The government must address the Code 7 Stamp loophole that creates systematic risk of exploitation.

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Focus on Labour Exploitation @focusonlabour.bsky.social · Sep 8

OPPORTUNITY:

We are recruiting a Director of Operations, to lead the development and smooth running of the systems, processes, and culture that enables FLEX to deliver its mission effectively.

For more details on the role and how to apply, go to: labourexploitation.org/about-us/opp...

Focus on Labour Exploitation @focusonlabour.bsky.social · Sep 8

Read our briefing that this reporting is based on: labourexploitation.org/publications...

Uneven fields: women workers’ experiences of the Seasonal Worker Scheme – FLEX

For years, Focus on Labour Exploitation and other organisations have raised the alarm about the Seasonal Worker Scheme, and the ways in which its design facilitates exploitation.…

labourexploitation.org

1

Focus on Labour Exploitation @focusonlabour.bsky.social · Sep 8

As @fullerproject.org reports, the gendered problems of the Seasonal Worker Scheme aren't just about individual cases of exploitation or abuse.

The government doesn't even publish data on how many women are on the scheme. So how can we know how far the problem goes?

www.youtube.com/shorts/87-uZ...

I asked the UK government how many migrant women work on farms. The answer shocked me

YouTube video by The Fuller Project

www.youtube.com

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Focus on Labour Exploitation @focusonlabour.bsky.social · Sep 2

Find the full briefing on our website: labourexploitation.org/publications...

Uneven fields: women workers’ experiences of the Seasonal Worker Scheme – FLEX

For years, Focus on Labour Exploitation and other organisations have raised the alarm about the Seasonal Worker Scheme, and the ways in which its design facilitates exploitation.…

labourexploitation.org

1

Focus on Labour Exploitation @focusonlabour.bsky.social · Sep 2

Our latest briefing looks at how gendered discrimination on the Seasonal Worker Scheme can result in higher levels of debt, underemployment, lower income and sexual harassment on UK farms.

Read The Grocer's write-up here:

The Grocer @thegrocer.bsky.social · Sep 1

Women are more likely to have higher levels of debt, underemployment and lower income while on the #SeasonalWorkerScheme

Women more likely to get into debt on Seasonal Worker scheme, research finds

A new report from Focus on Labour Exploitation has found that women on the scheme are more likely to have entered into debt to join the scheme and may face more barriers to recovering that debt

www.thegrocer.co.uk

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Focus on Labour Exploitation @focusonlabour.bsky.social · Sep 2

For the Fair Work Agency to be an effective tool against exploitation, it must introduce clear, trusted pathways for migrant workers to report abuse and exploitation without fear of deportation.

FLEX was proud to feed into this essential work.

Centre for London @centreforlondon.bsky.social · Sep 1

🤝 New Publication > The Fair Work Agency Briefing

The Fair Work Agency is a new enforcement body for workers rights.

What needs to be true for the FWA to succeed?

Read our briefing with @trustforlondon.bsky.social as we lay out core principles for success:
centreforlondon.org/publication/...

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Focus on Labour Exploitation @focusonlabour.bsky.social · Sep 2

“Ultimately workers and employers both need to know that the workers have the option to withdraw their labour and find another job, and won’t lose their immigration status or risk destitution if they are unable to work"

- @focusonlabour.bsky.social, in this new piece by @freylindsay.bsky.social

Beyond Slavery @beyondslavery.bsky.social · Aug 29

Kate Roberts @focusonlabour.bsky.social says the Employment Rights Bill (due back in parliament) “won’t do much” for seasonal workers. She says it's essentially incompatible with Labour’s commitment to improving labour standards. ✍️ @freylindsay.bsky.social

Seasonal workers: no halt to exploitation as scheme expands

Migrant workers’ legal precarity reveals incompatibility of Labour’s policies on worker’s rights and immigration

www.opendemocracy.net

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Focus on Labour Exploitation @focusonlabour.bsky.social · Aug 28

With the Employment Rights Bill shortly pack in parliament the UK needs to make sure that restrictive work visas don't leave workers unable to access rights. All workers, including those on the UK's seasonal worker visa, need to be able to access rights in practice

Beyond Slavery @beyondslavery.bsky.social · Aug 28

Migrant workers’ legal precarity reveals the incompatibility of Labour’s policies on worker’s rights and immigration.

How seasonal workers continue to face exploitation as the visa scheme expands ✍️ @freylindsay.bsky.social ⤵️

www.opendemocracy.net/en/beyond-tr...

Seasonal workers: no halt to exploitation as scheme expands

Migrant workers’ legal precarity reveals incompatibility of Labour’s policies on worker’s rights and immigration

www.opendemocracy.net

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Focus on Labour Exploitation @focusonlabour.bsky.social · Aug 28

ICYMI: FLEX CEO Lucila Granada writing on the issues faced by women workers on the UK's agricultural Seasonal Worker scheme
"Yet again, women workers pay the price for the failure of the systems responsible for protecting their welfare."

opendemocracy.net @opendemocracy.net · Aug 21

Women working on UK farms report sexual harassment and financial insecurity

New paper reveals stark gender inequalities with the Seasonal Worker Scheme, which government recently renewed

bit.ly

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Focus on Labour Exploitation @focusonlabour.bsky.social · Aug 27

"migrant women are not just temporary workers filling a gap – they are human beings entitled to dignity, safety, and equality. Anything less than a full overhaul of the scheme will leave the UK complicit in perpetuating a system of exploitation in its fields"
weeklyblitz.net/2025/08/26/e...

Exploited in the fields women migrant farm workers face abuse and insecurity

weeklyblitz.net

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Focus on Labour Exploitation @focusonlabour.bsky.social · Aug 21

For more on the experiences of migrant women workers on the Seasonal Worker Scheme, read our latest briefing: labourexploitation.org/publications...

Uneven fields: women workers’ experiences of the Seasonal Worker Scheme – FLEX

For years, Focus on Labour Exploitation and other organisations have raised the alarm about the Seasonal Worker Scheme, and the ways in which its design facilitates exploitation.…

labourexploitation.org

2

Focus on Labour Exploitation @focusonlabour.bsky.social · Aug 21

"Harassers get away with it, employers fail to deal with the problem, and enforcement is unable to do anything about it. Yet again, women workers pay the price for the failure of the systems responsible for protecting their welfare."

Read FLEX's CEO Lucila Granada in @opendemocracy.net

opendemocracy.net @opendemocracy.net · Aug 21

Women working on UK farms report sexual harassment and financial insecurity

New paper reveals stark gender inequalities with the Seasonal Worker Scheme, which government recently renewed

bit.ly

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Focus on Labour Exploitation @focusonlabour.bsky.social · Aug 20

For too long, the issues women workers on the Seasonal Worker Scheme experience have gone ignored.

Our latest briefing directly confronts the realities that migrant women are facing in the fields.

Read the briefing: labourexploitation.org/publications...

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