lucygjwhite.bsky.social
UK politics/economics correspondent at Bloomberg covering trade and migration. Formerly Chief City Reporter at Daily Mail.
Notts gal landed in London. Otherwise found foraging 🌱🍄‍🟫
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Then there’s the fact that most victims aren’t in the UK. For police, I suspect (putting it bluntly) that their priority is to address cases where victims are in the country.
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The victims are often low-income, in unstable work and aren’t the easiest to get hold of if police etc need to chase more facts. And in some cases victims are told by the scammer that they’ll be arrested too, which puts them off.
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Her case in particular was horrific. Honestly I think there’s a few reasons. I don’t think they realise how bad a problem it is, because so many people still aren’t reporting. Then I think in some cases, the victims aren’t great at explaining what’s happened, so police don’t chase it up.
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Yup. And the CQC were the ones the government was relying on to oversee care firms’ recruitment practices - even though they’re not set up in any way to cope with that.
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The white paper will stop new overseas recruitment so yes, the opportunity for fresh scams should be minimised. & it aims to help workers who are here, being exploited, to find a better employer, though not yet clear how. But it does nothing for those who’ve been scammed and never made it to the UK.
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What would I like to see? An effort led by the Home Office/National Crime Agency to investigate these cases, trace the money involved and return it to victims. A recognition that the UK has let down thousands of would-be migrants who just wanted to work. www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
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To be clear: There are so many problems. A migration system which was badly thought-out, involved vulnerable people and was essentially unregulated. An underfunded social care sector which incentivises exploitation. Overworked police who don’t have time/resources to investigate.
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Scammers, meanwhile, are driving Range Rovers, buying property, investing. They’ve made their money, and feel confident they won’t get caught. Mr Brown has vowed to keep tracking them down, but there’s only so much he can do. www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
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They have no idea how widespread it is. Starmer’s ban should help reduce future scams. But what of people who’ve already fallen victim? Who’s going after the criminals? Desperation is causing some to take matters into their own hands, with threats and violence. www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
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This week, Starmer banned recruitment of overseas care workers. The govt recognised the system used to bring them into the country was rife with abuse, as workers here who made it to the UK were exploited. But the scamming issue appears to have passed the govt by. www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
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That leaves vigilantes such as Mr Brown to pick up the pieces. But following the money is hard - in some cases we’ve found it flowing to opportunistic employers trying to fill their pockets. In others, it appears to be going to organised criminals. www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
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Those businesses have flogged fake or non-existent work documents to migrants in Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Ghana & elsewhere, who sold all they owned to buy them. Families have been left in ruin. Some have attempted suicide. Police in the UK are doing little to catch the criminals.
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If you have family or friends who use carers, I’d urge you to give it a read. Our story explains how UK businesses have been scamming the low-income migrant workers we’re relying on to care for our elderly, and who are desperate for a shot at improving their life in the UK.
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Gustafsson adds that the UK is a “safe haven” which has avoided the rise of populism and instability seen elsewhere. Growing popularity of Reform UK in polling might suggest otherwise…
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Interestingly on Trump/trade, Farage (probably the UK politician closest to the new US administration) seems convinced Trump would be open to sector-specific trade deals with the UK in booze, motorbikes, financial services etc. But not if Starmer tries to deepen ties with EU, he warns.
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Worth noting though that Labour are starting to get serious on the huge number of works being exploited under the UK’s health and care visa regime. Story here www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
And story on today’s migration stats here www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
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For context, 906,000 is bigger than the population of most UK cities (bar Birmingham and London). Will spark new conversations abt pressure on public services - and how we’re going to get Britons back into work if the UK is serious abt reducing reliance on migrant workers.