Care Workers and Other UK Modern Slavery Survivors Granted Visa Extension

The Home Office has announced that care workers, chefs, and others at risk of losing their migration status under post-Brexit rules if they leave an exploitative employer will be supported through new visa changes.

Officials stated that if an employee is identified as a victim of modern slavery, they will be permitted to work for any employer for the remaining duration of their visa.

Under a scheme introduced in 2021 by Boris Johnson's Conservative government to address post-Brexit labour shortages, the migration status of individuals on skilled worker visas was linked to a sponsoring employer. This meant that workers on that route, who had no recourse to public funds, risked having to leave the UK if they lost their job and could not promptly secure a new sponsoring employer.

Campaigners have long cautioned that this rule was being exploited by dishonest employers, who used workers' precarious immigration status to underpay them, force excessive working hours, or impose zero-hour contract conditions.

From Thursday, the restriction linking an individual's immigration status to a specific sponsor will be lifted if they receive a positive "conclusive grounds" decision formally recognising them as a victim of modern slavery through the national referral mechanism, the UK's framework for identifying and supporting victims of modern slavery and human trafficking.

Maj Heather Grinsted, the Salvation Army's deputy director of anti-trafficking and modern slavery, said: "Allowing survivors to work for another sponsor for the remainder of their visa is a crucial way to help them rebuild their lives safely and with dignity."

Dr Dora-Olivia Vicol, CEO of the Work Rights Centre, noted that while the changes "could be a gamechanger", their impact depended "on how accessible the modern slavery framework is". She added: "For almost three years we have warned the Home Office that the sponsorship system instituted after Brexit is a recipe for labour exploitation, and have urged officials to free people's visas from their employers' control."

CuriosityNews reported last week that the number of employers being stripped of their licence to sponsor workers for abuses had reached record levels. More than 6,600 sponsors have been stripped of licences since Labour came to power, with over 4,400 in the year to June 2026, representing a 140% increase on the previous year.

Modern slavery can include abusive working and living conditions, withheld wages, deception, intimidation, threats, violence, controlled movement, or confiscated passports. Ministers say the rule change will assist care workers, chefs, hospitality staff, and others who came to the UK in good faith but faced abuse. Where evidence of criminality is identified, sponsors will be referred to the police.

Jo White, the minister for migration and citizenship, said: "No victim of modern slavery should be trapped with an exploitative employer because of their immigration status. These changes will give victims the freedom to leave abusive workplaces and rebuild their lives. While we support them, we are also cracking down on those responsible. Rogue sponsors who exploit workers will face the full force of the law."

The government says it is also making it easier, through the immigration white paper, for sponsored workers to change employers, strengthening protections against exploitation. A lack of safeguards had led unions and some councils to introduce their own provisions, with Unison working with care workers and councils to produce a migrant care workers charter.

Last year 111,000 skilled worker visas were granted, 76% fewer than at the peak in the year ending December 2023. The decline followed the cessation of new overseas applications for care worker visas after July 2025.