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| Wisbech: the end of the road for migrant workers | Wisbech: the end of the road for migrant workers |
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| Vera, 56, says she doesn’t know who she lives with or the name of the person she pays her rent to. She is unable to produce her passport or payslips. She is uneasy at being questioned, either very confused or very unwilling to reveal any information; she sits on her bed with her head in her hands. | Vera, 56, says she doesn’t know who she lives with or the name of the person she pays her rent to. She is unable to produce her passport or payslips. She is uneasy at being questioned, either very confused or very unwilling to reveal any information; she sits on her bed with her head in her hands. |
| Council officers interviewing her, during an unannounced visit to the dilapidated house where she rents a room alongside at least nine other eastern European migrant workers, are increasingly concerned by her responses. Failure to provide a passport or payslips, and refusal to reveal employment details, are key indicators of exploitation. | Council officers interviewing her, during an unannounced visit to the dilapidated house where she rents a room alongside at least nine other eastern European migrant workers, are increasingly concerned by her responses. Failure to provide a passport or payslips, and refusal to reveal employment details, are key indicators of exploitation. |
| Vera (not her real name) works in East Anglia, sometimes picking broccoli, sometimes wrapping the flowers that go on sale at petrol stations, sometimes packing up fruit for supermarkets. She came here three years ago from Lithuania. She won’t say much except that she is not happy, that she used to get more work, but now is being given very little to do. She slumps on the dramatically sagging mattress in the midst of a chaotic room, strewn (since there are no cupboards) with a muddle of tangled clothes and old belongings, and begins to cry. | Vera (not her real name) works in East Anglia, sometimes picking broccoli, sometimes wrapping the flowers that go on sale at petrol stations, sometimes packing up fruit for supermarkets. She came here three years ago from Lithuania. She won’t say much except that she is not happy, that she used to get more work, but now is being given very little to do. She slumps on the dramatically sagging mattress in the midst of a chaotic room, strewn (since there are no cupboards) with a muddle of tangled clothes and old belongings, and begins to cry. |
| Officers from Fenland district council, accompanied by police and interpreters, have visited her home in a deprived area of Wisbech, an hour’s drive north of Cambridge, as part of an investigation into widespread exploitation of migrant workers. The presence of numerous food processing factories and plentiful farmland around Wisbech has made it a magnet for migrant agricultural workers. In the past 10 years, a huge influx of eastern European workers has dramatically changed the profile of this small town. Accurate figures are hard to get but police estimate that the town’s population now stands at around 30,000, of whom 10,000 are new migrants from eastern Europe. | Officers from Fenland district council, accompanied by police and interpreters, have visited her home in a deprived area of Wisbech, an hour’s drive north of Cambridge, as part of an investigation into widespread exploitation of migrant workers. The presence of numerous food processing factories and plentiful farmland around Wisbech has made it a magnet for migrant agricultural workers. In the past 10 years, a huge influx of eastern European workers has dramatically changed the profile of this small town. Accurate figures are hard to get but police estimate that the town’s population now stands at around 30,000, of whom 10,000 are new migrants from eastern Europe. |
| In the past nine months, the police and the council working together on what they’ve called Operation Pheasant have uncovered 19 cases involving allegations of human trafficking and 220 of illegal gangmaster activity. A gangmaster is the evocative word for a recruitment agency supplying workers to the agricultural and food sectors; gangmasters can be licensed and legitimate, but many operate illegally. | In the past nine months, the police and the council working together on what they’ve called Operation Pheasant have uncovered 19 cases involving allegations of human trafficking and 220 of illegal gangmaster activity. A gangmaster is the evocative word for a recruitment agency supplying workers to the agricultural and food sectors; gangmasters can be licensed and legitimate, but many operate illegally. |
| Police are familiar with this house, which they have visited a number of times, alerted by neighbours to persistent noisy fighting. To a trained eye, the house bears all the signs of being occupied by migrant workers who have been packed into the three-room house, two or three to a room, with three more in the sitting room, sleeping on cheap metal bed frames, some without pillows, most without sheets. Officers note the mould on the walls, broken washing machines and collapsing bits of furniture in the yard, fist-shaped smashed holes in one door, and a peculiar network of ramshackle electrical wiring looping through the building. No one answers the door to begin with, but police shout through the windows until a male resident opens the door, walking away swiftly without speaking to the police. Vera, who has no work today, is the only other person in the house. | Police are familiar with this house, which they have visited a number of times, alerted by neighbours to persistent noisy fighting. To a trained eye, the house bears all the signs of being occupied by migrant workers who have been packed into the three-room house, two or three to a room, with three more in the sitting room, sleeping on cheap metal bed frames, some without pillows, most without sheets. Officers note the mould on the walls, broken washing machines and collapsing bits of furniture in the yard, fist-shaped smashed holes in one door, and a peculiar network of ramshackle electrical wiring looping through the building. No one answers the door to begin with, but police shout through the windows until a male resident opens the door, walking away swiftly without speaking to the police. Vera, who has no work today, is the only other person in the house. |
| Many migrants arrive independently, find good jobs and settle happily. But police are concerned about the others who pay large sums to gangmasters to come here, who are quickly pushed into debt by agents who want to increase their control over them, and who quickly find themselves forced to pay middle-men over the odds for housing and transport, and receive less than the minimum wage for the work they do. | Many migrants arrive independently, find good jobs and settle happily. But police are concerned about the others who pay large sums to gangmasters to come here, who are quickly pushed into debt by agents who want to increase their control over them, and who quickly find themselves forced to pay middle-men over the odds for housing and transport, and receive less than the minimum wage for the work they do. |
| A recent government-commissioned report by the Migration Advisory Committee on the impact of low-skilled migration to the UK analysed the pattern of exploitation of migrant workers in Wisbech. Researchers said they found “clear evidence” of “exploitation of migrants, and on a relatively large scale”. The process begins in eastern Europe, where companies advertise the life migrants can expect to lead in the UK, and charge between £300 and £600 to bring them here. “Migrants are dropped off outside a petrol station, and then brought by a minibus to an overcrowded house,” the report states. “Upon arrival, the migrants are immediately charged rent, perhaps as much as three weeks’ worth in advance, so they are immediately in debt. Their passport may also be confiscated and may be used to commit identity fraud. They are also discouraged from getting a UK bank account as this means that the exploiters have more control over them. | A recent government-commissioned report by the Migration Advisory Committee on the impact of low-skilled migration to the UK analysed the pattern of exploitation of migrant workers in Wisbech. Researchers said they found “clear evidence” of “exploitation of migrants, and on a relatively large scale”. The process begins in eastern Europe, where companies advertise the life migrants can expect to lead in the UK, and charge between £300 and £600 to bring them here. “Migrants are dropped off outside a petrol station, and then brought by a minibus to an overcrowded house,” the report states. “Upon arrival, the migrants are immediately charged rent, perhaps as much as three weeks’ worth in advance, so they are immediately in debt. Their passport may also be confiscated and may be used to commit identity fraud. They are also discouraged from getting a UK bank account as this means that the exploiters have more control over them. |
| “If they are in work, then they are often paid less than the minimum wage. This is achieved through illegal deductions from their pay including transport, food and rent ... this keeps people poor and reliant on the exploiter.” | “If they are in work, then they are often paid less than the minimum wage. This is achieved through illegal deductions from their pay including transport, food and rent ... this keeps people poor and reliant on the exploiter.” |
| While local politicians are grappling with the political fallout from the surge in migration to the area (and Ukip has taken several seats from the Conservatives in the council elections) police and council officials are increasingly concerned about exploitation of the new workers. Because poor housing and labour exploitation are usually linked, they use regular housing inspections of the town’s many houses of multiple occupation (HMOs) as a way of investigating trafficking and exploitation. | While local politicians are grappling with the political fallout from the surge in migration to the area (and Ukip has taken several seats from the Conservatives in the council elections) police and council officials are increasingly concerned about exploitation of the new workers. Because poor housing and labour exploitation are usually linked, they use regular housing inspections of the town’s many houses of multiple occupation (HMOs) as a way of investigating trafficking and exploitation. |
| “No passport, no contract agreement, no payslips – that’s pretty standard. The fact she didn’t know who she was working for, or how much she earned, didn’t know the name of the factory where she worked was worrying. There may be an intimidation aspect that we have come across in other operations. We know people get into trouble for talking,” one of the council officers says, after the interview. | “No passport, no contract agreement, no payslips – that’s pretty standard. The fact she didn’t know who she was working for, or how much she earned, didn’t know the name of the factory where she worked was worrying. There may be an intimidation aspect that we have come across in other operations. We know people get into trouble for talking,” one of the council officers says, after the interview. |
| “That’s probably the worst I have seen. Nine people sharing a kitchen. It’s unsafe, unhygienic. They have no choice who they share with, don’t even know who they’re sharing with,” council officer Jo Evans says. Each tenant is paying £50 a week rent, making a total of £1,800 for the month, for a house that is in very poor condition. “The rent on that house should be £600 a month, maximum.” | “That’s probably the worst I have seen. Nine people sharing a kitchen. It’s unsafe, unhygienic. They have no choice who they share with, don’t even know who they’re sharing with,” council officer Jo Evans says. Each tenant is paying £50 a week rent, making a total of £1,800 for the month, for a house that is in very poor condition. “The rent on that house should be £600 a month, maximum.” |
| Sarah Gove, housing and communities manager with the council, has been working on Operation Pheasant for a couple of years and still finds it distressing. “People come over on the promise of a job. They have their passports removed, and they are put into hub accommodation, with people they don’t know. Usually they are told there is no work, so they immediately find themselves in debt bondage. They are told, you owe me for accommodation, you owe me for food. We believe there is collusion between landlords and the agents. The migrants are being moved around all the time. They will move from the hub property to an HMO, which is where you start to get complaints from neighbours about noise and litter.” | Sarah Gove, housing and communities manager with the council, has been working on Operation Pheasant for a couple of years and still finds it distressing. “People come over on the promise of a job. They have their passports removed, and they are put into hub accommodation, with people they don’t know. Usually they are told there is no work, so they immediately find themselves in debt bondage. They are told, you owe me for accommodation, you owe me for food. We believe there is collusion between landlords and the agents. The migrants are being moved around all the time. They will move from the hub property to an HMO, which is where you start to get complaints from neighbours about noise and litter.” |
| The idea of widespread exploitation feels unexpected amid these pretty streets, with painted wooden fences, autumn roses and pansies, and tidily trimmed hedges, but Gove has become familiar with it. | The idea of widespread exploitation feels unexpected amid these pretty streets, with painted wooden fences, autumn roses and pansies, and tidily trimmed hedges, but Gove has become familiar with it. |
| “It’s usual to see nine people in a three-bedroom home. We’ve had 10 people in a two-bedroom home. The worst is when there are children, with unrelated people in the house, so then there are safeguarding issues; the children may be left with adults they don’t really know,” she says. She has come across women who have been forced into sham marriages, and women who have been told they must sell their organs to pay off debts to the people who brought them here. “We are a small rural authority with some quite significant issues.” | “It’s usual to see nine people in a three-bedroom home. We’ve had 10 people in a two-bedroom home. The worst is when there are children, with unrelated people in the house, so then there are safeguarding issues; the children may be left with adults they don’t really know,” she says. She has come across women who have been forced into sham marriages, and women who have been told they must sell their organs to pay off debts to the people who brought them here. “We are a small rural authority with some quite significant issues.” |
| Another house they visit has just four people living there, a young Lithuanian woman and her 10-year-old daughter, and a Lithuanian man, and his uncle. For the moment, the woman has no bed, so she is sleeping on the floor of the small box room, next to her daughter’s bed. The four have only moved here a few days earlier, after leaving another house rapidly after a violent disagreement with the other tenants. Police examine a sharp kitchen knife left outside the front door, on the rubbish bins; the younger of the two men apologises, says he forgot that’s where he left it, and brings it back to the kitchen. | Another house they visit has just four people living there, a young Lithuanian woman and her 10-year-old daughter, and a Lithuanian man, and his uncle. For the moment, the woman has no bed, so she is sleeping on the floor of the small box room, next to her daughter’s bed. The four have only moved here a few days earlier, after leaving another house rapidly after a violent disagreement with the other tenants. Police examine a sharp kitchen knife left outside the front door, on the rubbish bins; the younger of the two men apologises, says he forgot that’s where he left it, and brings it back to the kitchen. |
| Housing officers are surprised again by the amount of rent they are paying – about £750 a month, considerably more than the carpetless and ill-maintained property is worth. They frequently see workers moved between properties, adding to a sense of insecurity. Police began to invest resources in Operation Pheasant when they saw a surge in shoplifting, homelessness and assaults in the town a few years ago, problems they now understand reflect the difficulties experienced by migrant workers, who find that employment here is not as stable or as well-paid as they might have expected. | |
| When work dries up, migrant workers are unable to afford food and rent. Police have found encampments hidden alongside the nearby A47, built from pieces of tarpaulin. “We have noticed a trend change from people nicking alcohol, to people nicking food. If it was organised it would be high value objects, like DVDs, but they are taking chicken breasts, meat, fish, which suggests their salaries are being cut to a point where they can’t afford meat,” police officer Nick Webber, of Operation Pheasant, says. | When work dries up, migrant workers are unable to afford food and rent. Police have found encampments hidden alongside the nearby A47, built from pieces of tarpaulin. “We have noticed a trend change from people nicking alcohol, to people nicking food. If it was organised it would be high value objects, like DVDs, but they are taking chicken breasts, meat, fish, which suggests their salaries are being cut to a point where they can’t afford meat,” police officer Nick Webber, of Operation Pheasant, says. |
| Police are investigating a spate of five suicides by eastern European males aged between 20 and 35 over the past year around the town. “There can be quite a quick downward spiral when you lose your job,” Webber says. | Police are investigating a spate of five suicides by eastern European males aged between 20 and 35 over the past year around the town. “There can be quite a quick downward spiral when you lose your job,” Webber says. |
| The tall Lithuanian man who opens the door at the next house is polite but reluctant to give much information. His replies are evasive or inaccurate. He says only four people live here, but there are nine pairs of shoes by the door, and the main room has sofas around the room, pushed against the walls, with enough room for seven people to sit in a row. | The tall Lithuanian man who opens the door at the next house is polite but reluctant to give much information. His replies are evasive or inaccurate. He says only four people live here, but there are nine pairs of shoes by the door, and the main room has sofas around the room, pushed against the walls, with enough room for seven people to sit in a row. |
| “He seemed to be briefed in the right thing to say. He wouldn’t answer who he pays the rent to,” one of the council officers says. | “He seemed to be briefed in the right thing to say. He wouldn’t answer who he pays the rent to,” one of the council officers says. |
| Some of the rooms upstairs are padlocked, but in the two that are open there are five beds. The mattresses are thin and the duvets grubby. On the shelf by one bed is a cucumber, a loaf of bread, some vitamin tablets and a hairdryer. There is a bare bulb lighting the room, and the person using the second bed has left a Lithuanian translation of a romance by Natalie Anderson, Blogoms Mergaitems Viskas (All the Bad Girls) on her thin duvet. Police discuss whether the man is the group’s resident “alpha male”; they explain that most houses are represented by an alpha male who collects the rent, and who will usually speak better English than everyone else. Initially police would turn to them for translation services in disputes, until they realised the distorting effect this was having. | |
| Local politicians are angry with the factories for outsourcing recruitment to agencies, enabling them to turn a blind eye to abuses. Virginia Bucknor, an independent town and district councillor, representing the deprived Waterlees ward, says: “They are taken advantage of quite appallingly. A lot of agencies are employed by these factories, which are international organisations; when they employ agency workers, the agency pays the employees. Why does the factory decide to employ via the agency? It’s so they can say: any issue, not my problem. I’ve seen employees from eastern Europe receive £7, after deductions, after doing a full week’s work. Deductions are made for transport from eastern Europe, for housing, which is often in an HMO, sometimes bed-sharing, over the shifts. | Local politicians are angry with the factories for outsourcing recruitment to agencies, enabling them to turn a blind eye to abuses. Virginia Bucknor, an independent town and district councillor, representing the deprived Waterlees ward, says: “They are taken advantage of quite appallingly. A lot of agencies are employed by these factories, which are international organisations; when they employ agency workers, the agency pays the employees. Why does the factory decide to employ via the agency? It’s so they can say: any issue, not my problem. I’ve seen employees from eastern Europe receive £7, after deductions, after doing a full week’s work. Deductions are made for transport from eastern Europe, for housing, which is often in an HMO, sometimes bed-sharing, over the shifts. |
| “My concern is that companies absolve themselves from responsibility because they are taking them on via agencies.” | “My concern is that companies absolve themselves from responsibility because they are taking them on via agencies.” |
| Earlier this year a local gangmaster was prosecuted for destroying payslips to allow him to underpay his workers. One employee received just £151 for five 10-hour days – less than half the national minimum wage. Another employee of the same agency worked for 20 hours over two days, but after deductions were made from his pay packet he was shown to be in debt. | Earlier this year a local gangmaster was prosecuted for destroying payslips to allow him to underpay his workers. One employee received just £151 for five 10-hour days – less than half the national minimum wage. Another employee of the same agency worked for 20 hours over two days, but after deductions were made from his pay packet he was shown to be in debt. |
| Anita Grodkiewicz, who works for the local Rosmini centre, which offers support to migrant workers, says it isn’t just those who work for illegal, exploitative gangmasters who are being mistreated. Even migrants who work for legitimate employers are expected to take on ever more unpalatable patterns of work. | Anita Grodkiewicz, who works for the local Rosmini centre, which offers support to migrant workers, says it isn’t just those who work for illegal, exploitative gangmasters who are being mistreated. Even migrants who work for legitimate employers are expected to take on ever more unpalatable patterns of work. |
| “What happens now is that you get a phone call at 5 o’clock in the morning, telling you to be at the BP station at 6am. When you get there at 6am there will be eight of you. Maybe only two of you will get on the bus, the rest will be sent home. You will get to the factory and when you get there, you may be sitting there for four hours, six hours, and you’ll only be paid for two hours, and out of that you pay your transport,” she says. | “What happens now is that you get a phone call at 5 o’clock in the morning, telling you to be at the BP station at 6am. When you get there at 6am there will be eight of you. Maybe only two of you will get on the bus, the rest will be sent home. You will get to the factory and when you get there, you may be sitting there for four hours, six hours, and you’ll only be paid for two hours, and out of that you pay your transport,” she says. |
| Agencies have created a downward push on the quality of work available, making it very difficult to accept the terms and conditions offered. It is very hard for anyone with dependent children to manage the uncertainty about times and lengths of shifts. | Agencies have created a downward push on the quality of work available, making it very difficult to accept the terms and conditions offered. It is very hard for anyone with dependent children to manage the uncertainty about times and lengths of shifts. |
| “I wouldn’t tolerate that, and I certainly don’t think I’d want to work in those conditions. That’s the difference. The people who come from central and eastern Europe have come thousands of miles to work, and that is their primary reason for being here. If you’ve come all this way to work, you’re accepting of conditions that most English people wouldn’t accept. | “I wouldn’t tolerate that, and I certainly don’t think I’d want to work in those conditions. That’s the difference. The people who come from central and eastern Europe have come thousands of miles to work, and that is their primary reason for being here. If you’ve come all this way to work, you’re accepting of conditions that most English people wouldn’t accept. |
| “These are the issues the central/eastern Europeans are facing. The agencies are morally exploiting them. Because you are a seasonal worker, just before Mother’s Day, just before Easter, they need lots and lots of people to pick flowers. So they need 500 people on their books, maybe, but for the rest of the year, they don’t need to employ those 500 people, but they need to keep them on their books, until they do, so they’ll give out some hours to each person.” | “These are the issues the central/eastern Europeans are facing. The agencies are morally exploiting them. Because you are a seasonal worker, just before Mother’s Day, just before Easter, they need lots and lots of people to pick flowers. So they need 500 people on their books, maybe, but for the rest of the year, they don’t need to employ those 500 people, but they need to keep them on their books, until they do, so they’ll give out some hours to each person.” |
| This results in migrant workers rarely knowing how many hours work they will get each week. “If you are working for an agency and you don’t know if you are going to have 70 hours this week or seven hours it is very difficult to budget. If this week they’ve only had seven hours and they still have to find £70 a week rent, it could well be that they share their room. It’s a case of survival.” | This results in migrant workers rarely knowing how many hours work they will get each week. “If you are working for an agency and you don’t know if you are going to have 70 hours this week or seven hours it is very difficult to budget. If this week they’ve only had seven hours and they still have to find £70 a week rent, it could well be that they share their room. It’s a case of survival.” |
| Gove says: “We have got some really good agencies and we rely on them to keep the local economy going – but there are some who don’t conform, and that’s where problems can begin.” | Gove says: “We have got some really good agencies and we rely on them to keep the local economy going – but there are some who don’t conform, and that’s where problems can begin.” |
| The tenant in the room adjoining Vera’s has balanced a framed certificate by his bed, naming him “Employee of the Month”, and praising his flexible approach to work. “Congratulations to Aleksandr K. In recognition of hard work, flexibility and reliability”, the certificate states. | The tenant in the room adjoining Vera’s has balanced a framed certificate by his bed, naming him “Employee of the Month”, and praising his flexible approach to work. “Congratulations to Aleksandr K. In recognition of hard work, flexibility and reliability”, the certificate states. |
| Officers give Vera details of where she can come for help, and discuss the possibility of voluntary repatriation; she says she will consider it. In the past nine months, the team has helped 44 people return home, voluntarily. The work done by Operation Pheasant has become well known among the migrant community; police say recently someone came into the station, unable to speak English, but carrying a piece of paper that said “Pheasant”, to signal that he needed help. | Officers give Vera details of where she can come for help, and discuss the possibility of voluntary repatriation; she says she will consider it. In the past nine months, the team has helped 44 people return home, voluntarily. The work done by Operation Pheasant has become well known among the migrant community; police say recently someone came into the station, unable to speak English, but carrying a piece of paper that said “Pheasant”, to signal that he needed help. |