A new report by a national helpline for victims of modern slavery has revealed an over 600% rise in cases in the care sector in 2022.

Unseen UK’s Who cares? report revealed there were 712 potential victims of modern slavery in the sector in 2022, accounting for 18% of all cases identified by the charity.

Andrew Wallis , chief executive of Unseen, said: “This report shows that the current approach of recruiting overseas to address a chronic shortage of care staff in the UK is a disaster for many workers. As the employee supply chain has got longer and more complicated, labour abuse and exploitation has increased.

“The Home Office needs to better apply existing laws, particularly the principle of no recruitment fees imposed on the employee, and to ensure proper scrutiny of the employee supply chain by UK care companies and recruitment agencies. It is individual workers who are paying the price of this neglect.

“We need to learn the lessons of the Seasonal Worker Scheme, which was also intended to plug a gap using overseas workers and led to many instances of labour abuse in the agricultural sector.”

The report revealed that overseas workers were being charged as much as £25,000 by employers and agents to work in the UK.

Almost 78,000 people secured long-term social care visas between June 2022 and June 2023 after the government eased immigration rules for the sector.

Of these, 60,000 were granted to care workers with another 18,000 going to senior care workers.

While overseas workers have played a major role in reducing social care vacancies, the sector’s reliance on foreign staff has come under fire from the Migration Advisory Committee.

The Independent Care Group today condemned examples of employers abusing overseas recruitment.

Chair Mike Padgham said: “The recruitment of overseas staff into social care has become a lifeline for care providers, the vast majority of whom are treating those staff with the respect they deserve.

“There is absolutely no reason for overseas staff to be paying for their own travel or sponsorship certificate – these should be met by the care provider.

“Overseas staff are coming to this country to provide care and to progress their own careers, they are not coming here to be mistreated in this way and it must be stopped.”

A government spokesperson said: “We strongly condemn offering Health and Care Worker visa holders employment under false pretences.

“The government does not tolerate illegal activity in the labour market and any accusations of illegal employment practices will be thoroughly looked into. Those found operating unlawfully may face prosecution and/or removal from the sponsorship register.”