Britain’s new Fair Work Agency will target abuse of labor market rules in construction and social care, two sectors heavily dependent on migrant workers, as the government expands enforcement powers to pursue fraud and workplace exploitation, according to the Financial Times.

According to new reporting by the FT, the incoming chair Matthew Taylor identified both sectors as early priorities for the agency, which is due to launch this week through the merger of three existing enforcement bodies. Taylor told the the newspaper that migrant labor carries “high levels of risk,” particularly in construction, and said enforcement agencies needed to work more closely with third-sector groups because workers often fear deportation if they report abuse. 

The existing Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority, one of the agencies being folded into the new body, has dropped more than 100 serious exploitation cases involving migrant workers since 2023 because they did not meet the legal threshold for modern slavery, according to the report. 

British officials believe that gap has been especially problematic in social care after a visa route for low-skilled care workers opened in 2022 and then closed last year. Hundreds of thousands entered Britain under the scheme, and the Home Office has acknowledged that more than a quarter were hired by rogue employers that later lost their licenses to sponsor visas, according to the newspaper.

Workers in some cases paid illegal fees to intermediaries, then arrived to find themselves underpaid, mistreated, and threatened with dismissal if they complained, the report said. 

Taylor said the new agency would use fresh powers to pursue fraud in such instances, telling the FT that authorities had previously been unequipped to help workers being charged large sums, housed in crowded properties, stripped of their passports, and subjected to wage deductions.

Read more at the Financial Times