Kalayaan welcomes the government's commitments announced in the context of the Response to the Consultation on Visitors on the 25th June 2008 to minimise the risk of abuse or exploitation of migrant domestic workers. The government has committed to maintaining the existing rights and protections for migrant domestic workers, which were introduced with the domestic worker visa.There may, if appropriate, be a review of protections for migrant domestic workers after the new immigration system has been in place for two years.

This announcement comes after two years of hard campaigning by migrant domestic workers together with Kalayaan, the unions and other allies against proposals announced in 2006 which would have removed existing protections.

Kalayaan will continue to work to ensure that migrant domestic workers are able to access their rights and to ensure that any review of the provisions will result in additional protections to further prevent abuse of this particularly vulnerable group of workers.

Why is this a success?

In 2006 the UK government announced the introduction of a ‘Points Based System’ for immigration to the UK. As part of these new regulations the Government proposed to remove many of the vital protections for migrant domestic workers (MDWs). These protections had been introduced by the same Labour Government in 1998, as a progressive change to the immigration rules, in recognition of MDWs vulnerability to abuse. Kalayaan was deeply concerned by the new proposals, announced in March 2006 following the publication of the government's White Paper 'Making Migration Work for Britain', which included removing the right of domestic workers to change employers while in the UK. Kalayaan outlined these concerns in position paper 'Migration must work for workers too' and for the past two years has been campaigning together with migrant domestic workers, their unions and other allies to ensure that the protections remain in place. We are delighted that the government has recognised the genuine concerns of MDWs and has committed to their continued protection.

Together with Oxfam, Kalayaan has produced a research document ‘The New Bonded Labour?’ which looks at why migrant domestic workers must be protected by basic rights including the right to change employer and protection under UK employment law. The report highlights the vulnerabilities particular to migrant domestic workers in the UK. You can also download a briefing paper.

You can see news coverage around the launch of the report which took place on the 2nd July 2008 on the BBC website.