UK: Active Care Group allegedly mistreating migrant workers incl. giving short-notice of relocation, long shifts & poor housing; incl. co. comments
Summary
Date Reported: 18 May 2023
Location: United Kingdom
Companies
Active Care Group (ACG) - EmployerAffected
Total individuals affected: Number unknown
Migrant & immigrant workers: ( Number unknown - Location unknown , Health and social care , Gender not reported , Documented migrants )Issues
Reasonable Working Hours & Leisure Time , Dismissal , Restricted mobility , Precarious/Unsuitable Living Conditions , Right to FoodResponse
Response sought: Yes, by The Independent
External link to response: (Find out more)
Action taken: In response to the new allegations of abuse of migrant workers, the Active Care Group ran consultations with over 250 staff between April 2023 - July 2023, and stated, "We have been working with all members of staff since the beginning of the consultation period to provide alternative employment and accommodation and colleagues also have the option to stay at Taplow and go through the consultation process with other colleague. Over 40 international colleagues were offered the opportunity of moving to another ACG facility and were asked for their preference of service and given time to provide this. We have also offered all members of staff at Taplow Manor the opportunity to relocate to other services with the group". The group also said that shift times in the new facility were 12 hours for all full-time staff and that there was a rotation of day- and night-shifts; staff have a daily allowance for food in addition to hot meals provided at the hospital; staff were using the local laundrette whilst at the hotel and it was working with them to help source their own accommodation; that it had been sharing information on vacancies and had sough staff preferences before transfers; and that a support package had been put in place for all staff and that it was providing financial support for anyone relocating to another service. Following the reports, both Taplow Manor Hospital and Ivetsey Bank faced scrutiny from the Care Quality Commission.
Source type: News outlet
"Scandal-hit private hospital owner accused of 'callous' treatment of migrant workers,"
A scandal-hit private hospital owner, that was forced to close a unit following a series of reports by The Independent revealing poor care, has been accused of “callous” treatment towards its migrant care workers.
Active Care Group (ACG), formerly called The Huntercombe Group, which owns a number of children’s hospitals, has been accused of treating dozens of migrant workers poorly following the closure of Taplow Manor Hospital in Maidenhead...
According to the GMB union, ACG gave a group of international care workers three days to consider whether they would relocate 150 miles away to work at one of its hospitals in Birmingham or take redundancy. This allegedly came after the organisation had already transferred some staff to another children’s hospital in Staffordshire, called Ivetsey Bank...
A spokesperson for Active Care Group said consultations with over 250 staff at Taplow Manor started on 19 April 2023 and would run until 18 July.
“We have been working with all members of staff since the beginning of the consultation period to provide alternative employment and accommodation and colleagues also have the option to stay at Taplow and go through the consultation process with other colleagues,” it said...
Lara Johnson, workplace representative for the union at Taplow Manor, told The Independent that workers who had been moved to Ivetsey Bank “are doing 12-hour shifts, some on nights and some on days, and they are expected to stay in accommodation which does not meet their basic needs”.