The UK Home Office has come under fire for its failure to collect even the most basic data on migrants entering the country on skilled worker visas, leaving thousands vulnerable to exploitation, a cross-party committee of MPs has warned.
A damning report from the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), released on Friday, reveals that the government does not track whether visa holders leave the UK after their permits expire—nor does it monitor how many remain and work illegally.
Despite the introduction of the Skilled Worker visa route in December 2020, the Home Office has yet to analyse exit checks or assess the long-term outcomes for visa holders.
Between December 2020 and the end of 2024, approximately 1.18 million applications were made under the Skilled Worker route, which was launched to help fill labour shortages following Brexit. Of those, around 630,000 were dependents of the main applicants. Yet the government still lacks comprehensive data on their movements or status once their visas end.
The committee warned that the 2022 expansion of the visa route to support the UK’s struggling social care sector resulted in serious exploitation.
Migrant workers were left at the mercy of unscrupulous employers, often trapped in debt bondage and subjected to excessive working hours under exploitative conditions.
Due to the Home Office’s sponsorship model, which ties workers’ legal residency to a specific employer, many are unable to report abuse or leave exploitative jobs without risking deportation.
MPs noted that despite clear signs of systemic abuse, there remains “no reliable data on the extent of exploitation” within the system.
Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, Chair of the PAC, criticised the Conservative-led government for opening the visa route too hastily during the pandemic:
“The government moved quickly to address workforce shortages in social care, but in doing so, exposed thousands of migrant workers to serious harm and undermined confidence in the immigration system,” he said.
He further added: “Basic information—such as how many Skilled Worker visa holders have become victims of modern slavery, or whether migrants are leaving the UK when their visas expire—is still not being collected. This is unacceptable.”
The committee highlighted government figures suggesting that over 470 sponsor licences in the care sector were revoked between July 2022 and December 2024 due to abuse and exploitation.
These licences were linked to over 39,000 migrant workers, raising serious concerns about the scale of migrant labour abuse in the UK.
The PAC said the government’s response to these issues has been “slow and ineffective”, and criticised the lack of cross-departmental coordination in tackling labour exploitation.
Currently, the only way the Home Office can determine if a person has left the UK is by matching their data with airline passenger records. The report noted that exit checks have not been analysed at all since the Skilled Worker route began.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper acknowledged systemic failings, calling them “part of the broken immigration and asylum system we inherited.” Speaking to LBC, she said:
“We are now introducing stronger entry and exit controls, linking e-visas to biometric systems, and increasing enforcement raids by 50% to identify illegal workers.”
As the government plans to end overseas recruitment for care workers, MPs warned that unless comprehensive reforms are implemented, the move could worsen staffing shortages and further destabilise the already fragile care sector.
Key SEO Tags: UK immigration system, Skilled Worker visa, migrant worker exploitation, Home Office, social care sector staffing crisis, visa overstay UK, PAC immigration report, sponsor licence revocation, Yvette Cooper immigration reforms, modern slavery UK.
