‘We sacrificed everything we had’: seasonal workers left without jobs after Home Office decision

[...] Ubay is one of nearly 100 workers from Uzbekistan who paid hundreds of pounds to work on UK farms and have been left without the jobs they had been promised after the Home Office revoked the sponsor licence of the company that recruited them.

“Working in the UK gave me a lot of hope,” Ubay told the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ). “But when we lost our jobs, we lost all hope … I don't know how to repay the debt.”

The workers had each paid nearly £400 to the Home Office and a government contractor for seasonal workers’ visas before the UK-based recruitment company, Ethero, had its licence cancelled earlier this month. Some workers who spoke to TBIJ said they had quit their jobs in Uzbekistan and paid out as much as £800 for visas, flights and other costs.

Ethero was one of the six government-licensed recruiters that offer people from overseas a six-month temporary visa to work on farms as part of the UK’s seasonal worker scheme. It had offered jobs to more than 1,800 Uzbek workers but fewer than 400 had been sent to work in the UK before the company had its sponsor licence cancelled on 2 August, reportedly because it could not guarantee the required minimum number of paid hours.

The consortium to which Ethero belongs has told workers it will not be offering them compensation. [...]

Ethero’s licence was initially suspended on 1 May, but workers in Uzbekistan were not informed until some time later – in some instances, several weeks. [...]

“We lost our jobs, our money, our health – in short, we sacrificed everything we had for this,” said Bahromjon, 23, who quit his job as a solar panel installer after he was offered a placement in the UK. He is now unemployed and unable to look for work abroad because his passport is still with the company in charge of processing UK visas.

“We didn’t [do] something wrong. We just followed what Telpasc said to us and that’s all,” said Abdullo*, a 23-year-old former English teacher. “The saddest thing is that I have already resigned my work, and I was waiting for the visa […] for three months.”

He said the government and Telpasc should compensate people for the money they lost.

“The most important thing for me is to get back my money fully,” he said.

When contacted by TBIJ, Ethero declined to comment.

Former Labour shadow chancellor John McDonnell MP told TBIJ that this case shows how vulnerable workers are to exploitation.

“There needs to be an independent review of the [seasonal worker visa] scheme to determine its fundamental overhaul,” he said. “In the meantime, the government must take immediate action to secure compensation from this company for these workers.” [...]