Resources
WSC Briefing on a Fair Work Agency
This briefing sets out WSC’s five principles for effective labour market enforcement, which must be: accessible; trusted; worker-centred; connected; and resourced. A new Fair Work Agency (FWA) should seek to prevent exploitation before it takes place, by operating on an understanding of risk that relates to the International Labour Organisation forced labour indicators and guided by experts on the issue of labour exploitation, including representatives of at-risk workers that are non-unionised. The FWA should include pro-active inspection, strong engagement with independent worker support organisations as well as trade unions, safe and anonymous reporting routes, and resourcing to meet International Labour Organization (ILO) standards.
WSC submission to the Director of Labour Market Enforcement
This submission responds to the UK Director of Labour Market Enforcement’s call for evidence to inform her Annual Strategy 2025/26. The focus of her enquiry is on the proposed new UK Fair Work Agency and in our response, WSC outlines our core priorities for effective labour market enforcement to prevent exploitation based on our extensive experience of engaging with labour market enforcement bodies during 2024. This evidence was accompanied by documentation from agricultural workers in relation to non-payment of wages on which we are asking for an urgent response.
Worker Power Event Report, Autumn 2024
During 2024, through WSC’s ‘Worker Power’ project, we conducted 5 participatory workshops with 58 seasonal agricultural workers to document experiences, positive and negative, individual and collective, and priorities for change. This meeting is one of many in which WSC has supported workers to connect their priorities and experiences to decisions made about their lives, authoring their own stories, and creating their own spaces for power. For the first time in the UK this meeting brought current workers on the UK Seasonal Worker visa together with people with power to influence their lives.
Mid-year report (January – July 2024)
This mid-year report of WSC’s casework supporting seasonal agricultural workers between January and July 2024 includes data from 411 individuals, spanning 212 cases and 199 enquiries. We have highlighted four key safeguarding risks posed to workers on the UK Seasonal Worker visa in agriculture: dismissals and pay related pressure; poor housing; health and safety hazards; and inaccessible transfers away from poor employment. Drawing on data from our cases we have set out the specific issues faced by workers, the actions WSC has taken to tackle them and our recommendations to government for policy change.
Information for people from Central Asia planning to work on UK farms
Information for workers from Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan considering coming to work in the UK on the Seasonal Worker visa.
Here is what you need to know!
Information for agricultural workers on the Seasonal Worker visa on your rights and support in Scotland
This guidance is for migrant agricultural workers in Scotland under the UK’s Seasonal Worker visa scheme and explains your rights and what you can do if you think your rights are not being protected. It does not give advice on general legal matters.
Annual Report 2023
In a short space of time, the WSC has built strong systems and a strategy and delivery plan which are rooted in the experience and expertise of workers themselves and the WSC team. Our work commenced in May 2023 in seasonal horticulture, and since then we have built a service that is trusted by workers. We conduct intensive outreach and casework, raising strong awareness of our service through diverse means, ensuring even very isolated migrant workers hear of the WSC, know how to make contact and are aware of the support we offer.
