Indian migrant handed £30,000 after employer failed to give him work

An Indian migrant who came to the UK to be a care worker has been awarded nearly £30,000 after his employer failed to give him a single day of work for a year.

Shabin Shaji moved to Britain from Kerala in southern Indian to work in the care sector as part of the post-Brexit visa scheme. Mr Shaji relocated with the belief he would help plug a “major shortage” in the sector and carry out shifts for Swan Care Solutions Ltd.

But despite passing an interview, gaining a right-to-work certificate and a sponsor in Swan Care Solutions Ltd, a tribunal court heard Mr Shaji was left penniless in Staffordshire because he was not given any shifts by his employer. A hearing in Birmingham heard how Mr Shaji had sought advice from a YouTube influencer on securing work in the UK before he departed India. The tribunal heard how the influencer connected him with agents who he paid £17,000, before he was interviewed for a role via WhatsApp.

The Guardian reports Mr Shaji, 33, won a pay claim after seeking help from the employment justice charity Work Rights Centre.

The charity’s chief executive Dora-Olivia Vicol told the newspaper: “We’ve seen case after case of migrant care workers sold a dream in Britain, leaving their careers and families behind, only to find destitution and abandonment by their employer and the state.

“The skilled worker visa must be entirely reformed to make it easier to change employers when rights or contracts are breached.”

Express.co.uk has contacted Swan Care Solutions Ltd for comment.

The tribunal heard how the conditions of Mr Shaji’s visa prevented him from working for anyone else for more than 20 hours a week. He eventually managed to secure sponsorship from another employer in April 2024, a year after his arrival in the UK, but he later returned to India in ill health.

The tribunal heard how Swan Care Solutions’ staff suggested Mr Shaji take cash-in-hand jobs and use a food bank when he said he was struggling, telling him they would be in touch when it was his “turn”.

At a hearing in May the company was ordered to pay £8,700 in costs, on top of the £28,843.54 it was ordered to pay him in wages and holiday pay. The company was ordered to pay a remedy for failure to provide him with a written contract and non-compliance with grievance procedures.

Mr Shaji told the tribunal: “I was broke and had to rely on charity. I drank tap water and bought bread close to its expiration date to survive [and] looked around local shops in Stafford for free bananas and bread for those who were struggling.

“I attended church and on Sundays after worship, the good people who attend the worship shared with me some snacks with tea, for which I am very grateful.”

He added: “I thought it would be a great opportunity, but when I came to the UK I found immigrants and British people struggling. I was in a terrible situation, feeling like no one in authority cared if I lived or died.”

Issuing the ruling, employment judge Kate Edmonds told the hearing: “The claimant had done what needed to be done to start work…he was now in the country, with the right permissions, and living in the right location. However, the respondent did not provide him with work, nor did they pay him.

“What in effect the respondent was doing, was treating the claimant as a zero-hours worker…the problem, of course, was that the claimant was not a zero-hours worker. The respondent withheld work from him…there was therefore an unauthorised deduction from his wages.”

The hearing heard how it was “not entirely clear” how Mr Shaji initially came to be in contact with Swan Care Solutions, but it was clear he “was in touch with individuals with whom he appears to have transferred some money”.

The company’s licence to issue certificates of sponsorship had been “ultimately revoked” in 2024.