Research has found that migrant nursing staff in the social care sector are being exploited by employers, with unethical practices around visa sponsorship having been exposed.

The report from the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), titled ‘From Recruitment to Reality: Exploitation of internationally educated nursing staff in social care’, highlights that the visa status of migrant nursing staff is being taken advantage of by some employers.

Due to immigration policies and issues facing the sector such as a lack of enforcement and oversight, the report explains that internationally educated nursing staff are more vulnerable to exploitation.

It draws on nearly 400 cases of health and care staff in adult social care, all of which approached the RCN for support due to being victims of exploitation and extortion between 2023 and 2025. The affected employees are largely registered nurses, or otherwise nursing staff.

According to the RCN, barriers like low union membership among migrant workers and the prevalent fear of speaking up means that the actual number is expected to be much higher.

Among the key problems were repayment clauses being used to perpetuate financial exploitation (the most frequently reported issue by members), poor workplace practices (including severe bullying and harassment, intimidation, and discrimination), and problems with contractual obligations.

‘The inhumane treatment of staff who have come to support the UK’s social care system poses a serious risk to the sector’s stability. Internationally educated nursing staff and migrant care workers are vital to delivering care; without them, many essential services would not function’, the report reads.

To help drive change, the RCN has ‘urgently’ called for strengthened protections, effective enforcement, and systemic reform that will boost sector standards and support migrant care workers.

It has proposed that visas are administered by an umbrella organisation or industry body to lessen employer dependency, as well as calling for the introduction of clearer and more accessible reporting mechanisms that enable workers to safely raise concerns.

Additionally, it recommends that the Government ensures a full investigation of the sector is performed, with the Fair Work Agency being used to monitor unethical employers and practices.

Comments

Professor Nicola Ranger, RCN Chief Executive and General Secretary, said: ‘This report exposes the scale of grotesque exploitation taking place in the sector. A National Care Service meeting the needs of an ageing population with complex conditions will need to be registered nurse-led. We’re the ones with the skill and expertise to make it work, but that cannot happen while so many of our migrant colleagues are being exploited.

‘One of the major causes is a visa sponsorship system which creates a dangerous power imbalance, allowing some unscrupulous employers to use withdrawal of sponsorship as leverage to extort money, alter contracts, reduce pay or bully and harass with impunity. It’s a shocking scenario which hands individual employers all the power. It has no place in a National Care Service.’

The DHSC has been contacted for comment.